Ghostbusters UK Vengeance Part 2
by Kingpin1055
Summary: The GBUK team arrives at the crime scene...only for some parts of Ben King's past to come back and haunt him. Colaboration with Part 1's writer Iain Bennett who also wrote Chapter 1


All rights reserved to Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Columbia Pictures. This follows year twenty (2003) of the Ghostbusters Omnibus Timeline. Ghostbusters UK is a TM of Tommy Simpson and Iain Bennett.  
  
Ghostbusters UK Vengeance - Part 2  
  
Chapter One  
  
A heavy rain poured down from the heavens as the Ecto-UK pulled up at the crime scene. The sky was deathly dark. As the extensive police team swarmed around the area the arriving Ghostbusters got a sense of how severe the situation was... Yellow police lines were taped up every where around the small alley way. There were armed police officers keeping the crowd at bay and the M.I.T. continued operating around the death scene...  
  
Tommy opened the driver's door and got out, slamming it behind him. Large rain drops pelted his head and ran quickly down his face. His spiked hair soon began to lose it's strength and it began to lie matt on his head... The rain drops lingered for a moment on his chin before falling to the ground, exploding in a microcosmic environment.  
  
He sighed and looked up, the sun obscured behind masses of black cloud... it was as if the weather itself knew what had happened.  
  
When Tommy looked up, Iain, Ben and Roger were already out of the ambulance.  
  
"Ben" Said Iain grimly "If we're dealing with a murder here, we'll need full photographic evidence, I suggest you pick up your cameras... I'm going to go right ahead with my Analysis kit. It's doubtful that there would be any kind of ghost still be here, but I'd like you Roger, to take PKE surveillances of the area. Tommy, could you go with him.  
  
Iain already had his kit in hand when his three comrades went to the back of the Ecto to gather their stuff. From out of the mass of police officers came a tall stocky man. He was dark skinned, most likely with African ancestors. He wore a long grey trench coat and a suit underneath it. The man approached Iain, his paces long and deliberate.  
  
"Doctor Tom Simpson?" Asked the man.  
  
"No" replied Iain, "I'm Flying Officer Iain Bennett or the RAF and Ghostbusters UK, might I ask your name please?"  
  
"Yes, Detective Tony Giles, I spoke with Doctor Simpson earlier..." Tony's face was grim, wrinkles on his fore head revealed years of pain and torture, needless lives lost during his watch...  
  
"Ben and I are going to survey the body... could you take us to it please?"  
  
"Yes... it would be the best thing, what about those two?" he said, waving his hand at Roger and Tommy, who were pulling proton packs onto their backs.  
  
"They're going to be examining the area."  
  
"Right, shouldn't you two be wearing those pack things?"  
  
"Not for the work we'll be doing." Answered Ben.  
  
Detective Giles turned and walked towards the ally's entrance, he motioned to Ben and Iain for them to follow.  
  
They ducked under a series of police tape, other M.I.T. officials darting back and forth, and then they saw it.  
  
The body was limp on the floor in a tangled mess of blood, the man's stomach ripped open leaving a gaping crevice behind. A white chalk line surrounded it.  
  
"Oh my God..." Muttered Ben.  
  
"Can you give us a minute please Detective?" Asked Iain, his voice low.  
  
Tony coughed, he'd seen enough of this mess for a moment, his hand dipped into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. He dabbed at his forehead.  
  
"Sure..." He said, before abruptly turning and leaving.  
  
"Iain..." Whispered Ben.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I've seen this before."  
  
Ben's face was deathly white, all colour drained from it. He pursed his lips tightly and swallowed hard. Deep within his eyes there was pure terror, wherever he had seen this kind of thing before had been a traumatic experience. A bead of sweat rolled off Ben's forehead.  
  
"Where?" Asked Iain...  
  
"Before we met, I caught something on film, it was horrible, a creature so remarkably terrifying that it still haunts me in my sleep. This very ghoul killed one of my best friends, it was exactly the same as here... A gaping hole in the chest... discovered alone... but what chills me most, is the look of pure terror in his eyes, even though he was dead..."  
  
"Damn I'm sorry mate, I really am.  
  
"It's ok, this might be my chance to end it all, What ever happens, we're going to get this one! Let's continue this then."  
  
"Right..." Sighed Iain, "Let's see what we have here..."  
  
Iain crouched down besides the body, his boots crunching on the wet concrete and he opened up his case. It was a large white tool box style thing, yet it opened out revealing medical racks and all kinds of crime scene investigation style tools.  
  
"First thing's first..." Iain said, pulling out a PKE metre and scanning the body, the device blipped rapidly signifying a definite PKE presence... "Right, now we have something to work with."  
  
He pulled out a small swab and a Petrie dish. Placing the dish down, he clicked a tape recorder on.  
  
"Ok Ben, let's see what we have... we'll go with the obvious first. The stomach has been severely lacerated, from the looks of it, from something from the inside."  
  
"Yeah" Replied Ben, he hovered above the corpse, and took a photo of the hole...  
  
"We can see evidence for this, from the fact that the stomach lining as well as the outer skin actually being folding over the undamaged skin. Had this have been a stabbing or similar it would have most likely have been the other way around." Iain paused. "Ben can you see this?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"There... little white dots..."  
  
"Yes, yes I can..."  
  
"What do they look like to you?"  
  
"Some kind of egg if you ask me, you know, insect ones."  
  
"You think?"  
  
"Yeah I do..."  
  
"Right I'm going to get a sample..."  
  
Iain leaned in with his swab and scooped a sample out and placed it in the dish before sealing it.  
  
"We'll have to take a look at that later" Mentioned Ben as he took a close up photo of some more of the "eggs" that were actually encrusted into the blood.  
  
"Indeed." Replied Iain. "Now... from what I can tell, the actual cuts made are extremely course... we can gather that it was definitely not a blade that made them. It's more like something bit through the skin. I'm noticing an inflammation of the skin inside as well... interesting."  
  
He pulled out a "worm-light", similar to those cameras doctors send down a patient's throat. He shined it into the victim's stomach.  
  
"The inflammation appears to lead up the oesophagus as well... I wonder..."  
  
Iain moved his attention to the man's mouth...  
  
"As I suspected, the mouth is cracked and laced with dry blood, it's as if something forced it's way in... and if I'm not mistaken... we have..."  
  
Iain probed the man's mouth with a fresh swab.  
  
"...some more of those damn eggs..."  
  
"That means there's some kind of connection between the stomach and mouth" Said Ben. "Is it possible that something travelled from his mouth into his stomach and then out?"  
  
"I believe you've got it!" Remarked Iain. "As far as I can tell there's been absolutely no other effects to the body, the skin is pale, but that can be put down to blood loss. There appear to be no other entry or exit points and no other wounds. His eyes show a state of incredible fear, that's worthy of note... I'm going to take a skin, blood and stomach lining sample then I'll be done. Any more photos you need taking?"  
  
"Yeah, I'll carry on after your done, this is something I have to do..."  
  
After taking the remaining samples Iain packed his kit away and walked over to Detective Giles. Tommy was already there...  
  
"What was the guy's name?" Tom asked.  
  
"Arnold Brooks" Replied Tony, "he was forty two years old, a family man..."  
  
"Family been told?"  
  
"Yes, they were distraught." Tony sighed deeply, it never really got any easier, sometimes he wondered why he didn't retire.  
  
"Tommy," Said Iain, his voice low and burdened, "we've definitely got something here, it's not demonic, which is good, but what ever caused this is dangerous, and..." Iain trailed off, he glanced off the side. Ben was still taking photographs of the body, his face set in stone.  
  
"What is it Iain?" Asked Tommy.  
  
"Ben's experienced this thing before, it killed his best friend years ago..."  
  
"That..." Muttered Tom.  
  
The two Ghostbusters turned to watch Ben, the man was now just standing, looking at the corpse, he held his fist to his mouth, the camera he had been using dangled from his neck, gently swaying. For a minute he just stood there, an insane mix of emotions flowing through him... anger, sorrow, hatred, but most of all the need for vengeance...  
  
"Think we should say something?" Asked Iain.  
  
"Maybe..." muttered Tom "But we ought to be..." Tommy cut his sentence short.  
  
"What's wrong?" Asked Iain.  
  
"He's gone"  
  
Iain snapped his head to the right, true enough, Ben was gone...  
  
"Damn." Cursed Iain, his fist clenched, though the only thing he was really feeling was concern for his friend. "Detective, Giles" He said, turning to face Tony, "If you could arrange for the body to be taken to our headquarters, we need to conduct further tests... I've got to go find Ben, Tommy, can you carry on the investigation with Roger here?"  
  
"Sure"  
  
"Thanks" replied Iain, clapping Tommy on the shoulder, he placed his analysis kit into Tom's hand and broke out into a run, disappearing round the corner.  
  
"Is there anything else I can help with?" Asked Tony.  
  
"No, just keep the crowds back, Roger and me will carry on with the investigation into the surroundings..."  
  
"Will do, and thanks for coming out here."  
  
"No problem." Smiled Tom.  
  
***  
  
The dark figure; Carlos, swept through the streets of London in the pouring rain, it was now time to locate the artifact that Mr Malvolio had requested, this item, was the Holy Grail. Carlos could think of no legitimate reason for anyone save a holy man wanted such an object, and Malvolio was certainly not one of those... This was, however, none of his concern. He had been paid to do a job, and do it he would. The first place Carlos had gone to in search of any kind of reference to the Grail was the London library... he had found a few minor references to it, mostly the name of an island; Avalon. This was of very little help though, he had absolutely no idea where the hell that place was, if it even existed! More details however, came in the form of a young librarian named Rebecca, she was in her early twenties and proved to be most gratifying. He had begun my shamelessly flirting with her whilst she was stacking books, the usual cliché Hollywood stuff, the kind women loved...  
  
Carlos then went on to ask Rebecca where he could find some books on the subject of the Holy Grail, he was a University lecturer, or so he told her, women always love the intelligent kind... She brought him into a back room, where she proceeded to provide him with the basic literature... it seemed though that the editions that contained the most information had been previously bought from them a month ago and she was not at liberty to say who had received them. Carlos had moved closer to her, he placed an arm round her back and drew her towards him, as he had leaned in to kiss her gently on her lips, he slipped her black dress off her shoulders, it fell to the floor in a small pile.  
  
All that was mere business however, after he had successfully pumped her for information, he had made an excuse that he needed to attend a conference and would be back shortly, he of course, wouldn't. Not now that he knew the location of the ancient books charting the details of the Grail... they had been bought by a company known as "Ghostbusters UK". It was to their centre of operation that he was now heading...  
  
***  
  
Tommy had continued his investigation into the surroundings of the murder, frankly he had found very little. Roger had picked up that the PKE trail suddenly cut off around the body, it also appeared to come out of nowhere. So frankly, they were stuck, nothing to follow, no where to go. Any clues were now only in the samples Iain had taken or Ben's past.  
  
The two had returned to the Ecto-UK to find Iain and Ben sitting on the back, Ben appeared to have calmed his emotions down, but Tommy could still see that he was hurting greatly inside.  
  
"You guys ok?" Asked Roger as he and Tom approached.  
  
"Yeah" replied Ben, shrugging.  
  
"We ready to head back to the fire station?" Asked Tom  
  
"I think so..." Answered Iain as he stood up. He then walked around to the driver's seat and got in, the other three Ghostbusters filed into the converted Ford Transit-van ambulance as the engine began to rumble, then, once he was happy that there wasn't any traffic coming, Iain pulled the vehicle back onto the roadway and on the way to the Firestation.  
  
***  
  
Carlos watched as the ambulance pulled away, he'd been watching from the shadows as the investigation into the man's death had be wound up, and he'd watched as the Ghostbusters had packed up to leave, he now knew what vehicle to watch out for when he needed to work out the best time to plan his 'visit' to the Ghostbusters UK HQ.  
  
Chapter Two  
  
The Ecto-UK pulled up outside the Ghostbusters UK Firestation, it waited a few minutes as Iain pressed a small button in the interior cabin and waited as the shutter door (One of two built into the Firestation) slid open, allowing them entry. With the shutter open, Iain drove the Ecto-UK into the Firestation's engine bay and killed the engine, above, thunder crashed as the Ghostbusters climbed out of the vehicle and into the engine bay, they were offered a brief flash of lightning as the shutter closed behind them.  
  
"Yo! Euan!" Iain shouted, his voice reverberating around the old Firestation's engine bay.  
  
"Coming!" Euan Sinclaire's voice shouted from the door to the crew barracks. A few minutes later, the former glorified coffee boy and Ghostbuster in training stepped out into the engine bay to greet the team of Ghostbusters.  
  
"What's our job sheet look like?" Iain asked.  
  
"Erm...well...nothing really...though one guy phoned up earlier asking for you, said something about a few rare books you guys had purchased recently...said he wanted to arrange a meeting tomorrow but I told him that you guys had that job up in Wokingham, said you'd be out all afternoon..." Euan scrunched his face up in thought. "I think he said he'd phone back." He added.  
  
"Thanks." Iain replied, the rest of the team moved on.  
  
"Hey...what's wrong with Ben?" Iain held back to answer Euan's probing question. "I mean, he usually criticises me for something each time he comes home."  
  
"Well...err...he's had...a...really thoughtful mood today...some new piece of photographic possibilities...I'm sure he'll be back to normal in the morning." Iain lied. He didn't feel like passing out Ben's darker then he wished past to Euan like a party favor.  
  
"Oh...alright." Euan replied, shrugging. "Anyway, your mum called while you guys were out, said she was hoping to see you for the weekend."  
  
"Yeah...as long as we have a break from jobs..." Iain commented, slightly automatic as he ran over some things in his mind. "Hey...did that guy who phoned earlier leave his name? Or a return phone number?" Euan's face scrunched up again.  
  
"Nope...it never came up."  
  
"Oh...okay...just a thought." Iain replied, he then walked into the crew barracks.  
  
Chapter Three  
  
The day passed uneventfully for the Ghostbusters, while most of them carried on with the daily tasks they usually didn't have a great deal of time for, most of them avoided Ben whenever possible, the visit to the crime scene had put him in a black mood and he hadn't shown much change. By early evening, Iain had found himself inside the Ghostbuster UK hq library, it wasn't very big, and Iain had uttered his annoyance at not being able to expand, however, even though the room was smaller then he'd like, there was a nicely growing library of occult literature and paranormal paraphanlia. The tests he'd been conducting two hours ago were mostly inconclusive, nothing altogether out of the ordinary...it was still normal human tissue and whatever the eggs contained had been dead on arrival at the scene. He collapsed into one of the easy chairs in the room and emitted a tired sigh, for the previous hour most of the team had been perfoming a routine training run in the Firestation's old practice tower in the small back lot which accompanied the building. He looked up at one of the bookcases, his eyes browsing the long, line of books, volumes and tomes which occupied the shelves. His eyes wandered onto one single, brown leather-bound volume which had been purchased recently, he stood up, picked up the book and sat back down. He opened the book's title-less cover to a small page beneath which held a inked title. Forgotten Legends of the British Isle the title read. He flipped through the book, which was filled with a mixture of printed text and wood-cut illustrations. For some strange, and inconceivable reason Iain turned to a specific page, and with awe he studied a page which didn't seem at all unfamiliar. He studied the page, it covered three legends, but one which drew his eye was a two paragraph entry set beside a woodcut of a sword.  
  
"Excalibur (Sword of the Kings)  
  
Pro: Ex-calli-burr English/Medieval  
  
Excalibur, famed and legendary sword of King Arthur, the sword was weilded by the king until his death in 1200AD in Dover. Since his death, the sword has lost none of it's potency in the legend created by it and it's fore- barer. The legend of Excalibur itself has enticed many a historian and encouraged many an explorer to search for the long-lost fabled weapon, however none have yet found trace of it, which has fueled claims by doubters as to the ture authenticity of the legend itself.  
  
Historians at Cambridge University have speculated on the legend that Excalibur had been lost at Avalon, that the sword may be buried somewhere within the vacininty of Greater London. The justification for this speculation was only recently discovered in the form of a short narrative written upon a segment of stone artifact, the single artifact believed to have been found in Colchester Castle around 1940, but until recently had resurfaced after being misplaced during the Second World War. The artfact, examined after it's rediscovery in the basement chambers of the National History Museum in London, proclaimed:  
  
'As the Isle of England enters a second millenium, a darkness on the horizon shall rise, bringing terror and destruction in it's wake. As the darkness covers the country, a single soldier shall rise up amongst his fore-bears and fellow country-men. He shall rise, weilding the sword of the lost kings and strike the darkness forth-with back unto it's domain...'  
  
The artifact, while enlightening, is still incomplete from it's original content, a large portion of the lower half of the artifact was not present in any record of the excavation, and at one point even fuelled a investigation into whether the artifact was in fact, a hoax. However carbon dating has proven the stone was etched in the mid to late middle ages. Historians at Glasgow University have raised doubt over the findings of Cambridge University's own Historians, citing that a lot of the text was down to interpretation, that 'sword of the lost kings' could simply represent another regal broadsword, and that no mention is made to any of the more well known Arthurian legends of Camelot, Lancelot or even of a Round Table.  
  
While their results are met by a wide range of skeptics and believers, Cambridge have stood by their results that the artifact may one day help resolve the legend of Arthur and Excalibur.  
  
The artifact, known as the Colchester artifact is on display at the National History Museum, London."  
  
Iain studied the article with curiosity...for some reason it had been a familiar passage, even though he'd never seen it before. His eyes wondered down the page to another entry.  
  
"Holy Grail? What the?" Iain wondered. "Okay! Who's been buying cheap, conspiracy books?!" Iain shouted out of the library doorway.  
  
"Hey, don't look at me." Roger began. "I didn't even want to buy it, we're on a tight budget as it is, talk to Tommy or Ben, they were at the auction." He added.  
  
"I will." Iain replied, leaving the library and taking the book with him.  
  
***  
  
Iain knocked on the doorframe to the Firestation's small breakroom, Tommy Simpson looked up from where he was making a cup of coffee.  
  
"Yo, Iain, what's happening?" He asked as he took a sip from the cup.  
  
"Much, who bought this thing?" Iain asked.  
  
"Errr...Ben I think...it was a big auction." Tommy answered as Iain thrust the offending book in his face.  
  
"Well it's a load of rubbish, it's got an entry for the Holy Grail!" Iain added, showing the entry to Tommy.  
  
"Y'know Iain, for a Demonologist, I think you need to open you mind more some times...if you're really wanting to get rid of it then talk to Ben, he bought it." Tommy replied as he began to leave the room.  
  
"Where is he?" Iain asked.  
  
"Either the Containment area or the roof." Tommy added as he walked off towards the engine bay.  
  
***  
  
Iain found Ben on the roof, staring out towards the sunset-soaked skyline of London. He'd never seen Ben look so...lost in thought, it was like he'd been altered psychologically.  
  
"Yo man...ever read any of the books you buy?" Iain asked Ben's back, he received no answer. "Fine, I'll just burn it." Iain replied and turned to leave.  
  
"That the legend book?" Iain heard Ben ask, he turned back, and was slightly surprised to see that his fellow Ghostbuster hadn't turned around, only that he'd titled his head to the side slightly as if listening to something. Still, it left Iain feeling a little creeped out.  
  
"Err...yes...how'd you know?" Iain asked.  
  
"Because I just knew you'd over-react at that passage about the Holy Grail..." Ben finally turned to look up at Iain. "Especially after that entry about Excalibur." He added.  
  
"Okay!" Iain threw up his hands in resignation as he sat down next to Ben on the edge of the Firestation's roof. "So I like swords! So what? I mean, you're into RPGs in your spare time, and Tommy's into bikes, can't I like swords?" Iain asked.  
  
"Nothing wrong with swords." Ben replied with a thoughtful expression. "Just it's strange, I had never pinned you for a guy interested in swords...I thought you'd have Playstation games as your first interest." Ben replied slyly and with a light chuckle.  
  
"Yeah.." Iain laughed a little himself. "I guess they broke the mold...say...will you be coming down now? I mean, sure, we could use an alternative to a SKY digital box, and as a lookout you'd probably rock...but some of us are more then a little worried that you may catch something nasty up here, and I don't mean a ghost, we don't want any extra work with the surge we've gotten of late." Iain added.  
  
"Yeah...I'll come down." Ben replied, he then stood up, followed by Iain, they watched the sun finally vanish behind the horizon of buildings, and then turned to re-enter the Firestation.  
  
"You know...you could take some time off...seeing that body like that...could take a few years off your life." Iain shrugged.  
  
"I don't know...I get this feeling something big's coming...call me crazy." Ben added.  
  
"You're right...you are crazy, now get inside." Iain quipped as he followed Ben down the ladder, closing the roof hatch behind him.  
  
***  
  
Outside, Carlos flicked away a smuldering cigarette and reached for another from a pack of Silk Cut. It was a bad habit, he knew and he meant to quit...just never got around it it, he smirked, he figured a long time ago the job would eventually kill him long before the cigarettes and lung cancer did. He watched as the few still-burning lights in the former Firestation winked out, one by one. He knew he couldn't strike straight away, he had to choose a time when little to no people were in the building. He'd watched a kid leave the building three hours before, apparently some kind of work experience kid...it was one of the small mental notes he'd made about the evening activity in the building, he didn't know where in the building the book was...yet, but he had his extrodinary senses of telling when people were near to hopefully give him enough time to sneak in, grab the book and sneak out again before anyone knew he'd even been there. Removing a zippo lighter from his pocket, cupping a hand over his mouth he lit the cigarette, removed it from his mouth and exhaled, he then turned and walked down the street, destined for a London Underground station marked as Russell Square.  
  
Chapter Four  
  
"Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!" Iain eyed his alarm clock angrilly, and then jumped out of bed, it wasn't his alarm clock, it was the alarm. It must've been time for the afternoon job...it was the afternoon? He quickly glanced at the clock as he pulled on a fresh set of clothes. The alarm clock did read half past twelve, so for agruments sake it was the afternoon. He quickly gathered up one of his jumpsuits and exited the room, rushing down the hallway behind him was Roger and Ben as they made their way to the staircase and the break/breakfast room. They then moved into the small office which connected with both the engine bay and the break room.  
  
"What's the problem?" Iain asked as he stifled a yawn.  
  
"Nothing...just need to get you old guys out of bed a little earlier." Euan said with a grin. Ben muttered something darkly under his breath.  
  
"Thanks Euan for that nice reminder of our growing older." Tommy replied sarcastically. "You can go back to what you were doing." Tommy added, he then faced his three fellow Ghostbusters. "No problem, just calling us down for our job in Wokingham."  
  
"Ah." Iain replied, he threw the crumpled jumpsuit onto one of the tables. "In that case...I'll be a moment." He said, then vanished off into the engine bay. He returned a few moments later with a fresher-looking jumpsuit. The jumpsuits were the standard GBI design, khaki flightsuits with elbow pads, a nametag sewn onto the left breast and the team logo sewn onto the right arm, the only difference with the british suit and it's american eqivilant was the logo, it was an unusual varient of the official 'no ghost logo', it consisted of the normal ghost, and it was surrounded by a circle, however the horizontal slash had been replaced by the Cross of Saint George and the circle, red on the original design displayed the red, blue and white of the mixed Union Jack, Cross of Saint George and Cross of Saint Andrews.  
  
"Anyway...we're leaving in five...oh, and we'll be needing a few books for the job..."  
  
"Anything in particular?" Ben asked with a raised eyebrow. Iain noticed that there were shadows beneath Ben's eyes.  
  
"Not really, just grab some of the history and/or myth stuff, it should work." Tommy replied. Ben nodded and vanished off in the direction of the library.  
  
"Iain, before I forget, we'll be needing to act professional...we don't want a repeat of the job at Windsor Castle...the place burning down once was bad enough." Tommy added with a wry grin.  
  
"Hey!" Iain raised his hands in mock surrender. "One of those damn Corgis got in the way, it's kind of hard to shoot properly when little balls of fluff keep tripping you up and biting your ankles."  
  
"Yeah." Roger replied, absently rubbing his left ankle as he strapped on his boots.  
  
"Anyway...best face...it's a big fancy house, we do this right and we may be able to do jobs for the National Trust again..." Tommy replied.  
  
"I don't see what choice they have, we're Britian's only professional paranormal removal team." Iain added honestly.  
  
"Yet you guys still promote it as the best one on that GBI website, isn't it?" Euan asked with a grin from the doorway to the break room.  
  
"That's besides the point!" Tommy replied with mock chiding. Ben returned with a stack of books which wobbled worryingly. However, he managed to move through the room and deposit them in the small lab in the back of the Ecto-UK. When he walked back to join his fellow Ghostbusters they'd migrated into the engine bay, and those not in full uniform extracted field belts, rubber industrial gloves, boots and a few small pieces of equipment they kept in the lockers left in the disused Firestation. The pieces in question being two Proton Packs, a camera, and the device effectionately know in GBI circles as the 'Ghost Sniffer', a type of over-sized EMF* detector which frankly, nobody knew just how it worked, they only knew it did...sometimes. One other piece of equipment retrieved from one of the lockers was a EMF detector, when compared to the other equipment, it was a grandfather, but still it was worth taking in case the PKE Meter became zoned out by a sudden surge of PKE** With the equipment collected, and the team dressed in full uniform, they strode over to the Ford Transit Van Ambulance known as the Ecto-UK. They climbed in and Tommy sat down in the front passenger seat, which allowed him to go over the job work-sheet while the vehicle was moving, the vehicle began to rumble as it's engine started, he looked up at Euan who leant in the doorway to the office. "Keep this place safe, don't let it burn down and all that." He said with another wry grin. Euan mock-saluted. as he watched Iain press a button mounted to the roof of the ambulance, then, an instant later the motorised shutter in front of the Ecto-UK began to rise toward the ceiling.  
  
"Whatever you say, boss." He grinned madly. He then watched the Ecto-UK pull out of the Firestation and into the London traffic. It had been decided that generally speaking, they'd leave ten to thirty minutes early to take the London traffic into account, it was usually okay with jobs in Central London and it's boroughs, but whenever a job involved a trip on the M25 and beyond, then some more thinking needed to be employed.  
  
***  
  
He watched as the converted ambulance pulled out of the Firestation and moved away, he'd waited nearly an hour for the team to leave their HQ, and he hoped it was long enough for him to pull of his 'visit'. Naturally, he was incogneito, he couldn't risk some guy seeing his true face should he be seen. He crossed the street and approached the Firestation, around him people milled about. To them, he was a stranger, a nobody, someone who they wouldn't give a second glance to and wouldn't remember...which worked for everybody. He didn't want anyone else to see him or what he did if he could help it, he didn't enjoy killing every single person who stuck their nose in where it didn't belong...but he didn't stop himself when he did do it.  
  
It's their own fault if they're too nosey. He rationalised. He had too, he'd given up being disgusted at himself whenever he looked in the mirror a long time ago. He finished his journey across the street and paused beside the glass and wood door which presumably let into the station's office. He paused as he studied the stranger's reflection in the glass. A broad, white hat, wire-rim glasses and a white beard gave him the look of a archeologist, or at least a professor. Good. He thought, that was what he was hoping to achieve. With that done he tried the handle, to his surprise, and a little dissapointment, it turned. He had been looking forward to performing a little silent but deadly breaking and entering...but this'll have to do he supposed. He turned the handle and entered the Firestation and was greeted by a fairly large office, several desks littered the room below piles of invoices, paperwoork and what he believed to be bills and other correspondence. Overhead flourescents buzzed, casting a stark, white glow over the area, and making the shadow on his face thrown by the brim of his hat even darker, he grinned slightly under the beard. He heard a rustling and the sound of what presumably was cups being washed in a sink. He walked over to a desk which faced him and looked down, a small plastic plaque read: Ghostbusters UK Office - Desk Clerk Euan Sinclaire. He studied a old, brass bell sat next to the plaque, and then tapped the small post rising from the top of the bell, making it ring. The rustling and noises in the next room halted, and a teen exited that room and walked towards him, drying his hands on a towel, he couldn'tve been older then fourteen or fifteen.  
  
"Can I help you?" He asked.  
  
"Err...yes, I believe so." Carlos replied in a smooth, upper-class British Accent. "I phoned this...uh...organisation last evening, in reference to some purchased books."  
  
"Ah yes!" The kid, presumably Euan, suddenly recognised the voice. "Yeah...sorry, you just missed the guys, left for a job in Wokingham." He added.  
  
"That's more then fine...it's specifically one book in particular...I know the title as well...I just wanted to consult the publisher and author entries...I'm researching some of the legends mentioned inside the book in question." It wasn't a total lie, and what was it they said that the best liers always had a mixture of trueth woven into the lies they told? "Would you mind if I was able to...er...peruse your library? I assume your establishment has one?" Carlos inwardly winced...of all the personalities he'd created to carry out his various jobs in the past, this was the personality he hated the most...so upper class twit...so utterly pompus... and yet seemed one of the most successful...fate had a very sick sense of humour at times.  
  
"I think it'd be okay...just go through there and it's the door second to the left on your right, the stuff should be arranged alphabetically...but with things lately...you may need to do a bit more searching." Euan directed and explained.  
  
"Thank you." Carlos bowed his made-up head, walked around the side of the desk, and following the boy's instructions, entered a small and very cluttered room containing two double racks of metal shelves which were filled with books, a small desk in the far corner boasted a fairly large pile, and the odd book was left lying on the floor, mostly newer volumes. On the windows, a metal grille was set in place...just as well he had gone in through the front, it may have taken him longer then anticipated if he had to cut through that thing as well as the glass. Now...where is that book? A book named Forgotten Legends of the British Isle shouldn't be hard to find. He closed the door to prevent any sound exiting the room...he was sure it'd be even less organised then it was now when he would be finished with it.  
  
Chapter Five  
  
"Tricky little bugger...isn't it?" Roger asked as he gritted his teeth.  
  
"I think I can safely say..." Iain started, taking a moment to swing his beam around an ornate chandelier before he risked hitting the thing. "That you're the most foul mouthed accountant I've ever met." He finished.  
  
"Thanks." Roger replied witha lop-sided grin. "I try." They moved the ghost around a grand piano, and then Roger kicked out a Ghost Trap. "On three." Roger added. "One...two...three!" He stomped on the Trap's pedal, sending a blinding prism of energy into the air, both Ghostbusters closed their eyes and shut off their proton beams as the ghost, a very nasty looking poltergiest which looked like a cross between a Credenza and a moose into the Trap.  
  
"Two down...another ten to go." Iain muttered irritably. He wiped sweat off his brow as Roger unclipped his field radio and raised it to his mouth, he then depressed one of the buttons on it and spoke into it.  
  
"Team One to Team Two...how you doing, over?" Roger spoke into the radio. There was a small amount of static and some shouting before Tommy replied.  
  
"Team Two here, just bagging the gooper...how you guys doing on your end, over?" Tommy asked.  
  
"Okay, we bagged the sucker...how many that make, over." Roger asked.  
  
"Adding yours and ours, I think about four..." Tommy replied.  
  
"Great...another six to go." Roger replied grimly.  
  
"Yep...largest concentration seems to be in the second floor of the West Wing, meet you at the main staircase and then we'll make our way from there. Over."  
  
"Copy that...over and out." Roger replied, slipping the radio back into it's holster, when he looked back at Iain, he was already coiling up the cable connecting the pedal to the Trap.  
  
"They done on that one upstairs?" He asked.  
  
"Yep...now we're going to that big staircase we saw when we came in, then we're moving on to the West Wing." Roger explained.  
  
"Cool...I've always wanted to level the West Wing." Iain replied with an exagerated raising of his eyebrows. As they moved out into a large, marble entrance hall, they paused momentarily to place the Trap on a pile of other Traps. However, this was a short performance as Iain removed the cartridge and inserted a empty one into the Trap's main casing. Something that was done on a regular basis was to simply entrust the cartridge's small built- in power cell (Smaller then the one in the main casing) until they had caught all of the spooks, it was a practice that GBUK were still trying out (In favour of carrying a huge number of Ghost Traps), so far, it was working out well. Upstairs they heard heavy footsteps and saw the other half of GBUK strolling out of a hallway.  
  
"...I still say that those things go straight for the priceless artwork." Tommy replied while holding two smoking Ghost Traps.  
  
"Yep...and if it's not expensive, then it's big and has lots of parts." Ben agreed as he checked out a few shots he'd captured on his digital camera. "Hmm, should make the cover of National Enquirer..." He grinned.  
  
"I thought you were still trying for an entry on the online Spirit Guide?" Tommy asked as they climbed down the staircase.  
  
"The operative word there," Ben raised a solitary finger. "Is 'trying'." He then pushed his glasses back up his nose, a gesture which seemed so strange to Iain, he'd only seen that gesture once before, performed by Professor Egon Spengler when they had met a few years back (And had sparked the formation of what was now Ghostbusters UK)***  
  
"Hey," Iain greeted. "You ready to start destroying more heritage?" Iain asked with an uncharacteristic grin.  
  
"Hey, destroying heritage is what we, and all other Ghostbusters do best, isn't that right, Tommy?" Roger nudged his boss.  
  
"Yeah..." Tommy replied calmly. He knew it was a joke...but still...it would come back to bite them all in the arse if this job didn't go well...he just knew it. He quickly changed cartridges and then slung the two Traps over his shoulder, he then faced the rest of the team. "Ready to do this?" He asked.  
  
"Sure as we're ever be." Ben replied. He then nodded towards Iain's PKE meter which beeped quickly, a large green mass displayed on it's indicator screen. They then proceeded up the staircase and into the corridor leading to the West Wing.  
  
***  
  
Dammit! Carlos cursed, he'd turned over half of the mess the Ghostbusters called a library, and was yet to find that one goddamn book! He'd resorted to checking all of the cover pages when he hadn't seen the name on any of the spines, and now one whole shelf rack's contents lay sprawlled on the floor, he then started to work on the collection on the second rack, throwing books over his shoulder as he went.  
  
"Where is it?!" He nearly bellowed...he then caught himself, and tried to calm down. "Calm down Carlos, remember, if it's not here, they probably took it with them...if that's the way it works out...well...bargain with them..." He told himself. And there were some things even the most stubborn people would bargain for. Suddenly he heard a noise as the door was opened, and then a gasp. Carlos looked up, pasted a smile on his face and spoke: "I'm so terribly sorry...I appear to have made a bit of a mess..." Mess was a good starting point for a description anyway. "I do hope I haven't damaged anything.  
  
"I hope so as well... some of this stuff is really expensive, and old...look...maybe if you told me the title I can try find it?" Euan asked.  
  
"The Books is called something along the lines of: Forgotten Lengends of England.  
  
"Oh! You mean: Forgotten Legends of the British Isle, I think one of the guys took that along with a bunch of other books on that job they went to...they should be back in a half hour or so..."  
  
"Will they? That'll be excellent!" He smirked despite himself.  
  
"Here, let's clean this up, this place is in such a mess I doubt they'll notice any difference..." Euan added, stooping down to gather the books, a moment later Carlos started to help. "Say...I didn't quite catch your name?"  
  
"Olivera...Professor August Olivera of Cambridge University...I'm doing a bit of study into English Legends, that's why I required the book." Euan's face wore a puzzled expression for a moment.  
  
"Ye...es." He replied, a little uncomfortable, however it shook it off. "What sort of legends?" He asked.  
  
"Oh, the usual, Excalibur for one..."  
  
"Cool! You mean King Arthur's sword?" Euan asked.  
  
"Yes...quite..." Carlos replied. Within ten minutes, the books were back on the shelves.  
  
"Fancy a coffee?" Euan offered. Carlos pondered this for a moment.  
  
"Yes...I'd like a cup." He added, a slight smirk crossing his face as he followed Euan out of he library.  
  
Chapter Six  
  
Blue motorway signs and cars shot past as the Ecto-UK made it's way back to London.  
  
"Right guys...I know it's tough to think about...but I want to get things on that murder case moving quickly." Tommy explained from the passenger seat. "That means when we get back to HQ, we review those pics Ben took, and the PKE readings, if this thing is what Iain thinks it is then we may need to start preparing for a battle." He added.  
  
"Yeah." Ben, knocked out of his more joyful mood from the bust replied. Tommy turned back to face the roadway as Iain noted the shortening of the distance between them and the HQ.  
  
"Should just be another fifteen minutes or so." He replied.  
  
"Good...Iain...honestly, do you think Ben should be on this case...if it is the thing he saw before we formed SPRIG?" Tommy asked, provoking a slightly surprised look from Iain.  
  
"Tommy, this is the guy who saw his friend murdered by a demon, and still investigated the paranormal, we've known him for eight, long years, you should know better then anyone that he can do this."  
  
"Yeah..." Tommy replied, an awkward silence developing within the driving compartment of the vehicle.  
  
"Say..." Roger began. "There's something I meant to bring up...just how did you guys get together?" Roger asked.  
  
"Man." Iain replied with a grin. "That's a long, and very boring story...which you might just get out of one of us if you get us drunk enough."  
  
"Heh." Ben chuckled.  
  
"I mean it guys, seriously...I've worked for the company nearly a year yet I've never heard or seen a mention to how you guys got together, it anything like the New York office?" Roger asked.  
  
"Nothing like that...tell you what, maybe sometime tonight if I'm in the mood, I'll tell you." Tommy replied. They then faced forward as the skyline of London quickly approached.  
  
***  
  
The Ecto-UK passed Russell Square Tube Station and pulled up outside the darkened Ghostbusters UK Firestation, the building looked even more gloomy in the darkening light created by the sunset.  
  
"Alright guys, time to get out and stretch those limbs." Iain replied as he hit the overhead button to activate the shutter.  
  
"You know...it's a damn shame." Ben muttered.  
  
"What?" Roger asked.  
  
"We took along all those reference texts, and it turned out we didn't even get to use them."  
  
"Well, how were they to know it was simply poltergiests and not a dead ancestor?" Roger asked sympathetically...besides, the £5000 should make up for it nicely." Roger grinned. The shutter had fully opened and Iain pulled the ambulance into the darkened engine bay.  
  
"Geez Euan, try turning on a few lights why don't you?" Iain muttered as he ran one of his feet into a piece of equipment which he could just see looming out of the gloom.  
  
"Watch your eyes." Tommy replied, then a moment later the room flashed into brightness when the overhead flourescents were activated, sending a buzzing noise reverberating around the tiled engine bay. The Ghostbusters then moved towards the door to the office.  
  
"You Euan, could we get some coffee?" Iain called into the gloom, there was no answer.  
  
"Euan?" Ben asked, a little puzzled. His hand felt along the side of the doorway until he snagged the lightswitch, when he found it he flipped it and the Ghostbusters made a collective double-take. Sat in a computer chair in the middle of the office was Euan, the barrel of a silencer- extended Glock 17, and holding it was a man with a beard, wire-rim glasses and a hat which reminded Tommy of one worn by John Hammond.  
  
"I guess the welcoming party's here." Iain quipped.  
  
"Hi guys...er...I guess you're kinda wondering how this happened." Euan replied with an uneasy laugh and a faltering grin.  
  
"The thought came to my mind." Ben replied, placing his hands in his pockets. "Let me guess...drugs? Extortion? pros..."  
  
"Nothing like that!" Euan protested.  
  
"Your little coffee boy is correct." The man replied in a deep voice, not his real one, but not the made up one Euan had heard earlier. "There is something you have that I want."  
  
"Look buddy, we don't take kindly to having one of our team with a gun to his head." Roger muttered. "It's rich of you to stroll in here and start making demands."  
  
"May be, but I have a job to perform, and if you don't comply...well...let's just say brain matter grey will be the new wallpaper colour in here." The man replied in a sinister tone.  
  
"What do you want?" Ben growlled.  
  
"A book."  
  
"A book?!" Iain replied incredulously. "You're doing this for a book?!"  
  
"Ah, it's not just any book, it is an important book." The man replied.  
  
"What's this book called?" Tommy asked.  
  
"Forgotten Legends of the British Isle, and don't tell me you don't have it, this little pipsqueak already said you had it." With that, he jabbed the gun further into Euan's skull, prompting a quick yelp. Iain leaned over to one side so he could whisper into Ben's ear.  
  
"That one of the books you took with us?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"What happens when we give you the book?" Roger asked.  
  
"Then I give you this little guy back."  
  
"Fine." Ben replied, narrowing his gaze at the intruder. "I'll go get it now." He turned to move back to the Ecto-UK. He then heard the gun cock behind him, and he turned to see it pointed straight at his back.  
  
"Not so fast. I've read up on you guys, I know how you've come up with plans to fool your enemy, so I came prepared." Suddenly he raised an arm, and then threw it back down, there was a sudden flash and a loud bang, then everything went hazy.  
  
A smoke bomb, Iain thought sourly. He coughed as he tried to get the acrid smoke out of his lungs. "Is everybody okay?" He shouted. He received confirmation from all but one person, and as he turned to face the spot where Euan and the intruder had been, all he saw was the chair, knocked over and empty, and a word processed letter. He picked it up, read the lines of text and muttered darkly.  
  
"What's the problem?" Tommy asked, waving smoke away from his face.  
  
"He wants an exchange, on Oxford Street."  
  
Chapter Six  
  
"Dear members of Ghostbusters UK,  
You have something I want, I have something you want, so that puts us in a stalemate. However, I am not a totally unreasonable man, so I am offering you the chance to cooperate and that will save the life of your youngest member.  
  
In order to do this, you must follow some ground rules. They are as follows:  
  
1) You must not alert the police, I own a police scanner, and any mention to a sweep on Oxford Street will terminate our little agreement.  
  
2) All four of you must be present at the transaction.  
  
3) You must bring the book with you. The exact book, and not a decoy.  
  
Once the transaction has been handled, you will be given back the boy.  
  
Now, some instructions:  
  
Meet at the entrance to Tottenham Court Road Underground Station on Oxford Street, near the Center Point Tower. Once there, you must wait until quarter past three where I will then collect the book, I shall then lead one of you to a destination where I am holding the boy, only then will I return him.  
  
Any deviation from the above ground rules and instructions will result in termination, and I don't just mean our agreement."  
  
"...and that's it." Iain finished.  
  
"Bastard." Roger swore.  
  
"I wonder what's so special about that book that would make him so interested?" Ben asked. Then Iain had a thought.  
  
What if he was after Excalibur? He thought.  
  
"What's the job listing for tomorrow, around that time?" Ben asked.  
  
"Hmm." Roger frowned. "We've got a small job in the East End at one 'o' clock, and then another job at Tower Bridge at three twenty..."  
  
"Okay, phone up those clients and inform them that they're being rescheduled due to a...err...equipment inspection by the Head Office, that should buy us enough time to get Euan back."  
  
"Right." Roger nodded, reaching down to grab the phone and he started to dial the number of the first job they had to rearrange.  
  
"Iain, I want you to give that book a run through, see if you can find out what this guy might be after."  
  
"Sure." Iain nodded, and moved off towards the Ecto-UK.  
  
"Ben." Tommy faced the team's Spirit Photographer. "I want you to dig out one of the spare PKE Meters and that instruction booklet that came with them, there's a chapter in it, I think which deals with something we can use against this guy...if not, then it'll be online at www.GBIweb.net." Tommy explained.  
  
"What sort of thing?" Ben asked, standing up.  
  
"The ability to record human biorythems." Tommy replied bluntly.  
  
***  
  
It was nearing quarter to eleven when the Ghostbusters UK finally collapsed into bed. The team had nearly exhausted themselves by their preparation to get Euan back. Ben had set aside two modified PKE Meters, one set to Euan's biorythem (A standard GBI protocol), and one set to record a new signature, hopefully the kidnappers'. Iain had checked through all the entries in the book, and the only entry he believe was of any relevance was Excalibur, and this was based on his recent deja vu with the entry itself. Roger himself had rearranged the scheduled jobs for the day after the meet up on Oxford Street. Tommy however had remained in deep throught at his desk, a hardly seen bottle of Glenmorangie (Usually seen at the Office Christmas and New Years Party) sat on his desk, he'd only poured one glass, but hadn't drunk more then half of it, he swirled the liquid around as he pondered it. Iain paused halfway through the office on his way to his bed. He looked at Tommy, and then walked over to him. This was probably the worst he'd seen the Ghostbusters UK leader, his flightsuit sleeves were rolled up, his hair was a mess and he had bags under his eyes.  
  
"You look like hell mate, why don't you get some sleep?" Iain suggested, he didn't look too well slept himself.  
  
"Iain...can I ask you a question? Was it a bad decision to take on a work experience kid?" Tommy asked, pondering the thought as if it was the liquid in the glass.  
  
"Aww c'mon Tommy, you know we couldn't have seen anything like this coming, it's a chance all teams take." Iain replied, grabbing a chair, reversing it and sitting down, using the backrest as an arm rest.  
  
"Yeah..." Tommy replied grimly, he drank some of the whisky, swallowed it and grimmaced. "But somewhere along the line I must've made a monumental screw up. Jeeze!" Tommy set the glass down quickly and shot back into a leaning position in his chair. "What was I thinking leaving the office to a kid?"  
  
"Hey, we didn't think there'd be a problem." Iain replied honestly.  
  
"Well...I just hope nothing goes wrong tomorrow..." Tommy replied gravely, not finishing what they had already considered at one point or another that evening. "I need to get to sleep...I'll see you in the morning, Iain." Tommy replied, standing up from the table, he walked over to the doorway to the break room. "You might want to think about going to sleep too!" He shouted back.  
  
"Yeah." Iain replied throughtfully. Half an hour later he would trudge up the staircase and collapse into his bed without removing his crumpled flightsuit.  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
Iain frowned, around him bustled shoppers and tourists alike as they moved through four different directions through the crossroads just below the Center Point Tower on Oxford Street. It was nearly quarter past three by Iain's watch, yet it felt longer. He wore a pair of sunglasses, a combination of the late night and the bright orange sun which shone at an irritating angle at anyone moving south along Oxford Street, under his arm was a brown paper package containing the book. Beside him stood the three other Ghostbusters UK members, dressed in civilian gear and trying to blend in with the crowd. Across the pavement and leaning against the wall of the Tower was Ben, pretending to study the Daily Telegraph. He wore a black leather jacket which contained one of the modified PKE meters in each inside pocket, further down the pavement, near the corner was Tommy, he was dressed up to look exactly like a tourist, he held a map of London, a pair of cameras, a backpack and a stupid novelty Union Jack hat (Which he wore on protest) Last, but not least was Roger, he stood wearing a false beard and selling copies of The Big Issue. They'd decided to go undercover in case it proved useful, besides, four guys dressed in Ghostbusters uniforms just attracted too many stares. They also believed they might be able to follow the guy if a few of them were dressd up in disguises, though Iain wasn't so sure it'd work. Ahead, Iain could see the entrance to Tottenham Court Road Underground Station, watching as people vanished into the station entrance and climbed out of it, he then moved over to the entrance as the appointed time arrived. He only had to wait about three minutes before the man who looked like John Hammond of Ingen arrived.  
  
"You have the book?" He asked quietly.  
  
"Yes, now where's Euan?" Iain asked, narrowing his eyes.  
  
"All in good time my friend." Carlos replied.  
  
"Don't even think you can call me that." Iain narrowed his eyes further.  
  
"Such hostility." Carlos replied with sarcasm, Iain handed him the package and he took it, opened it and studied it's contents. "Okay, very smart of you to follow with my instructions, now follow me and I shall lead you to the boy." He turned and re-entered the station, Iain paused on the top step, throwing a look back at Ben who had been busy recording the results as best he could, he gave a definate 'no' sign. Figures, Iain throught, too many people here. Iain walked down into the station, quickly followed by Tommy, Ben and Roger. Tommy had removed a PKE meter from his cam corder and turned it on, it had been set to Iain's biorythem so they could follow him should the first attempt to gain the guy's signature fail.  
  
***  
  
Iain followed Carlos down into the ticket office, but instead of going through the turnstiles he turned left and went towards a small door marked: Employees Only. Iain followed, turning back again, he could see Tommy just rounding the corner, and then nodding at him to go.  
  
"Come on, you want this kid or not?" Carlos replied irritably. Iain followed, decending a long and winding spiral staircase, eventually he found himself in a dirty, concrete hallway which led towards an exit of pitch black, on either side were locked doors. They eventually reached the end of the hallway, and they stopped. "Wait." Carlos replied, raising a cautionary hand. "Tube train hasn't left yet." As the train rolled out of the station, Iain tried to study Carlos, he couldn't detect much of an accent in the man's voice, and he couldn't see much of an identication of a ethnic minority or a regional appearance. Once the train had finally left, Carlos climbed down from the tunnel entrance and walked along the tracks. "Mind the live rail." He warned. Iain followed until they reached what looked like a workman's recess, however Carlos reached into the arch of the recess, and suddenly light spilt out of the recess. "Wait here." He replied, then vanished into the recess, several minutes later Euan appeared in the recess, he looked tired, and in need of a decent meal, but was otherwise fine. "Okay, here's the boy. It has been...how do you say? I pleasure doing business with you." Carlos replied with cold humour. "Now get out of here, and don't think about coming back." Suddenly there was a loud bang and a struggle seemed to take place. Iain peered in the recess, and Tommy, Ben and Roger were pouring in through a similar hidden entrance on the opposite side of the hidden room, presumably on a different track. "What do you think you're doing?" Growlled Carlos.  
  
"Probably the stupid thing." Ben retorted, he held one of the modified PKE Meters and was in the process of recording Carlos's signature.  
  
"We don't take kindly to having our staff kidnapped." Tommy replied, removing a small Proton Pistol from his backpack. "We're taking you to the police."  
  
"You fools!" You had the boy, I had the book, there was no need to act so stupid! You can't even begin to comprehend what I must do.  
  
"Trust me, we've seen a lot of stuff you couldn't understand." Roger replied, the Ghostbusters began to move slowly forward as Carlos stared at them in disbelief, he then grabbed Euan and held the Glock to his head.  
  
"I'll shoot him, goddam it! Don't come closer!" Carlos shouted. The advancing group halted. In the distance, the ground began to rumble, down the track, a train was leaving the station. Within moments the lights flickered out and new light flashed as a Underground Train rolled by on the side the three other Ghostbusters had entered. Outside in the recess Iain could hear a lot of shouting, then suddenly a proton bolt shot at Carlos, a moment later a muffled gunshot fired and Euan screamed, Iain managed to lock eyes with the poor kid, the side of his face grazed where the bullet had just managed to miss him. A moment later he landed on the tracks and uttered a terrifying scream as a Tube Train barrelled down on him. Iain could only watch as Euan's body vanished from sight beneath the Underground Train. However, he didn't hear the shouting from within the hidden passage as Carlos fled past the Ghostbusters, dropping his gun as he ran. Eventually the train passed, and once it did, Iain sat down blankly into the recess, trying to get over the horrific scene he'd just witnessed.  
  
***  
  
"...thankyou Mr. Bennett, we'll try to catch this character as best we can, I'm sorry for your loss." Replied Detective Tony Giles, he'd been dispatched the the incident at Tottenham Court Road as soon as he'd heard that the Ghostbusters had been involved.  
  
"Thanks." Iain replied, even though the shock had passed, his face was sickly pale, he'd seen a lot of nasty things in his time, but it was still freshly shocking to see someone you worked with fall under the wheels of a train. However, he resolved, he wouldn't led Euan's death get to him, god knew Ben seemed to be taking it badly enough without Iain to fall into the same stupor. Apparently when the lights had gone out, Ben had stumbled on some loose cabling when the three Ghostbusters had tried to move forward and get the guy in the dark, the stumble had caused him to crash into Tommy who had unwittingly fired the hair-line trigger on the Proton Pistol, a shot had been fired, hit the guy in the shoulder and the reflex action had made him pull the trigger by accident, sending a bullet grazing across the side of Euan's face, the combination of pain from the bullet, moving out of the way of it's potential danger and the guy stumbling from the shock of the Proton Pistol had sent Euan spawling in front of the on-coming 3:30 Southbound from Tottenham Court Road, the end result was the shutdown of the Southbound line out of the station and a coroner team removing the remains of what had once been GBUK's Work Experience participant.  
  
"Sir," A man in a white clean-suit greeted, he wore a grim expression. "The body was such a mess that we could only identify it by the clothing and ID in it's wallet, the deceased is who they believed it is.  
  
"Thanks." Detective Giles replied. He then turned to Iain. "Consider your consultancy officially put on hold until you guys can be sure you have put this past you." Giles replied.  
  
"No." Iain replied with a new expression of determination. "That thing that killed that guy is still out there, and we need to follow the guy who caused this, he's still out there and he has something dangerous on his mind." Iain replied.  
  
"I don't suppose I can dissuade you?" Giles asked half-heartedly.  
  
"No, and I won't allow it either." Tommy replied. "We have two dangerous beings running loose in London, before Euan's death Ben was able to record this guy's biorythem, and using one of these." He held up a PKE Meter. "We can track him."  
  
"And, I know where he's going next." Ian replied.  
  
"Really?" Detective Giles asked, a little skeptically.  
  
"Yes, he's going to the National History Museum." Iain added.  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
The Ghostbusters rode back to HQ in silence. Each one of them was going over the previous events of the past two days. Iain drove, apart from being the designated driver, he felt he was the most capable of driving at the point. He wasn't inhuman, he just didn't believe in simply standing or sitting around if something important had to be done, even if it had been the death of a co-worker. He took a moment to look at Ben in the rear-view mirror. Out of the whole team, he seemed to be taking Euan's death the worst, it had been no secret that he and Euan hadn't gotten on a lot, but a lot of that had simply been rivalry between the two biggest jokers on the team. Once, Ben had once confessed that Euan reminded him of the son he hadn't seen for more then a decade. Coupled with the recent re-emergence of the demon Ben had fought exactly a decade before would surely make a volatile case for a shrink. As Iain drove the Ecto-UK through Russell Square on the way back to HQ, Tommy finally broke the veil of silence:  
  
"Someone's got to call Euan's parents, let them know the bad news."  
  
"I'll do it." Roger offered.  
  
"Thanks, Roge." Tommy replied. Iain finally pulled up at the HQ, pressed the button built into the roof of the vehicle, but didn't drive into the building. He just stared ahead.  
  
"Sod it." He swore, climbed out of the vehicle, slung his coat over his shoulder and moved off into the engine bay, leaving the three other Ghostbusters sitting in the Ecto-UK. Eventually, they climbed out, locked the van and followed him into the building. As they entered the office, Roger made his way over to one of the desks and sat down, pulling out the company address book and locating Euan's home number. Tommy sat down at his own desk, spied the half-drunk glass of whiskey, he picked it up, studied it and then downed the rest of the contents, grimacing as he went. Ben moved over to the small room which had been designated a Dark Room, entered it, closed the door behind him and locked it. On the roof, Iain stared out at the skyline and swore to himself. He knew that something would've gone wrong that day, he could feel it in his bones. He then sat down on the ledge of the roof and started thinking, he'd need to arrange them a visit to the National History Museum, after hours, he'd also need Detective Giles to help out.  
  
***  
  
It was close to nine 'o' clock when the Ecto-UK approached the National History Museum, the building was a large, victorian structure of red-brick and sandstone which stood close to five stories tall and boasted one of the most impressive entrance halls a museum could have. The Ecto-UK was slowly moving into a small parking area set near the museum. Within, sat Iain, Ben (Still deathly pale but otherwise seemed focussed) Tommy, Roger and Detective Giles. Detective Giles had been brought along to help with both a continued investigation into the murder case he'd first brought Ghostbusters UK in on, and to help with the sting job Iain hoped to pounce on the guy who'd kidnapped Euan.  
  
"So you think this guy is gonna break in here once the place shuts down at nine?" Detective Giles asked with only a slight hint of skepticism.  
  
"Right." Iain agreed.  
  
"And from the reading Ben gathered earlier today, we should be able to detect him once he enters the area." Tommy explained, he removed the modified PKE Meter from his jumpsuit, switched it on and started to adjust the settings for human biorythems. They only had to wait five minutes before the PKE Meter began to beep softly.  
  
"Gotcha." Roger replied with a grin. Iain raised a hand and switched off the cabin light, sending the team into near darkness.  
  
"Right. This is how we'll do it." Tommy began. "Iain and Roger will go in the front way, Roger will be equipped with a Proton Pistol, you, Detective, will be with Ben and myself, Ben will be carrying a Proton Pistol.  
  
"Why don't you use your Proton Guns, you told me they can be ajusted to knock out a person."  
  
"Yes, but this way we can limit any damage that may occur." Tommy replied. "Alright guys, meet in the main entrance hall in five." He instructed. Then they climbed out of the Ecto-UK and made their way to their seperate entrance points.  
  
***  
  
The members of Ghostbusters UK had taken up their positions on the second level of the three-level entrance hall of the National History Museum, the main hall's primary feature was the perfectly preserved skeleton of a brontesorus. The hall was dark and the little light cast into the room barely penetrated the think shadows, the cavernous size of the hall caused even the softest of sounds to be magnified and reverberate, they hoped feverantly this would work against the kidnapper. Across the hall, Iain and Roger could just see Tommy give them a thumbs up, beside him were Detective Giles and Ben. However, this didn't last for long, a moment later a soft, but undisgusiable sound of a creaking frame could be heard above, and then a moment later a rope quitly lowered into the main hall.  
  
"He's taking a stupid approach, going in through the main hall." Tommy whispered.  
  
"Let's not under-estimate him..." Detective Giles warned. When the rope had eventually reached the marble floor of the hall, a man, clad in black slowly slid down the rope, eventually touching down on the floor softly, his face was covered in what looked like the hood of a ninja suit, or a catburgler's mask. He looked about for a moment, then stole across to Tommy's side of the hall, which was the right hand side if you'd entered through the main entrance. He crept along the side of the hall, keeping to the shadows. Once he'd reached the staircase, he climbed up onto a desk, then climbed up a banner pole and then up onto the ornate marble ballustrade lining the staircase. Tommy nodded towards Iain and indicated them to start moving towards the staircase. Once the masked man had reached the top of the stairs, he opened a glass and wood door, and vanished through it, above the door were the words:  
  
Triassic Period - Jurrasic Period - Roman Period - Medieval Period  
  
A moment later Tommy's group entered through the door, quickly followed by Iain's group.  
  
"Okay." Iain whispered. "If this guy is after what I think he's after, then he's heading to the Medieval section of this floor, I don't know where the artifact is kept, but the entry in the book said it was on display, the Cholchester artifact." Ahead, in the gloom they could make out the man as he turned down a side corridor, the group paused at the turn. Above another set of glass and wood doors were the words: 'Medieval Period' chissled into the marble. Iain nodded, and suddenly the two Ghostbusters with Proton Pistols took the lead, they then quietly opened the doors and entered the room.  
  
"Right, if they followed my instructions, all fire doors and exits to other parts of the musum excluding this one have been locked." Detective Giles replied. "He shouldn't have anywhere else to go."  
  
"Right." Iain agreed. "Sunglasses." He instructed. The team then removed a pair of darkened glasses they'd been given and put them on, then, with this done, all of the team excluding Iain and Roger moved towards the man who was busy inspecting a glass case which looked like it contained a stone slab. As they moved, they only noticed a slight flash of light over the tops of the sunglasses as multitutes of spotlights suddenly flared on.  
  
"Ah!" The man cried in surpise, tumbling over and knocking the case holding the artifact to the floor, the glass cover shattered as it hit the marble.  
  
"C'mere!" Detective Giles growlled, grabbing the man's arms and locking them in a pair of handcuffs, he then hoisted him up and Tommy, now ajusted to the light, pulled off the black mask.  
  
"It's not him!" Roger replied in surprise.  
  
"Who did you expect, Shirly Temple?" The burgler replied sarcastically. Iain frowned at the voice.  
  
"That's definately him." He replied, looking eye to eye at the burgler.  
  
"Sorry I can't say it's a pleasure to see you lot again." He replied.  
  
"Just what are you here for?" Iain asked.  
  
"That artifact, I have a employer who is very interested in aquiring an object linked to it."  
  
"Excalibur doesn't exist, it's a legend and you are as big a fool as your employer in thinking you can get it." Iain scolded, for the first time, Iain saw surprise in the man's expression.  
  
"Excalibur? What are you raving about? My employer has entrusted me with aquiring a certain artifact known as the Grail."  
  
"What?" Tommy blinked. However, what may have been spoken never got the chance, a slow, but steady wind began to fill the room.  
  
"What?" Detective Giles asked, noticing the materials on the displays moving in the growing breeze.  
  
"Look!" Shouted Roger, the whole group turned to see the artifact, it was glowing green, it was the source of the wind. The glow on the tablet was slowly getting brighter as the wind grew stonger.  
  
***  
  
Sensing that his captor had been distracted, Carlos took the opportunity to shove his elbows into the man's gut, the man doubled over from the surprise attack. Carlos then leapt up, drew his arms under his body and managed to skip his legs through the small loop created by the handcuffs, he then ran, scooped down, collected the tablet and ran past Roger and out of the room. The Ghostbusters then charged after him, following him down the corridor to the large Entrance Hall. As Carlos exited the doorway, he skidded on the polished marble and was sent sprawlling, the table slid towards the staircase and tumbled down it as he slid along a side aisle of the first floor or the Entrance Hall, he spied a ornate iron light fitting with a series of fleurs de lys, he brought the chain between the two handcuffs roughly down on the fixture several times, managing to snap it, just as he moved to the staircase the Ghostbusters and Detective Giles burst through the door, both sides of the law paused for a brief moment, amid a growing gust and light source. Carlos then leapt over the ballustrade and onto the banner pole as the Ghostbusters ran down the staircase, Iain, as he reached the bottom threw himself at the tablet, snagging it the exact same moment Carlos did, they wrestled for it for a few moments before both of them were sent sprawling by a concussive shock wave emitted by the artifact.  
  
"What did you do to it?" Iain shouted over the wind.  
  
"Hey, I did nothing!" Carlos shouted back. Suddenly another concussive blast knocked the whole group over, and the rest of the Ghostbusters painfully back into the staircase, above the tablet was a shimmering hole of blackness, inside they could just make out stonework. Seeing his chance, Carlos got up, ran over to the portal, scooped up the tablet and jumped through.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" Ian got up and ran after him, he threw himself at the portal, passed through it and tackled the surprised Carlos.  
  
"Iain!" Tommy shouted, he ran at the portal, jumped through and landed in a pile, behind Ben and Detective Giles ran at full tilt, following Roger. As Roger jumped through, the portal began to shrink, as Detective Giles and Ben leapt the portal vanished abruptly and sent both of them skidding along the floor. Eventually they picked themselves up and dusted themselves off.  
  
"Well, I don't know what you guys go through on a daily basis, but that must've been the weirdest thing I've seen to date." Detective Giles replied, when he didn't recieve a reply he turned to face Ben, and to his surprise saw him start to move towards the entrance doors with his head raised, as if he was too important to look at the floor. "Hey! Get back here!" He shouted as he caught up with Ben, but all he could do was just follow.  
  
It's drawing me...the sound...I must find it! Ben thought, barely notcing that he'd passed through the doors and was now outside the museum, he didn't even noticed Detective Giles behind him.  
  
***  
  
Iain moaned, he hurt.  
  
"Ow...that's about as much fun as doing The Big One at Blackpool while very drunk." He moaned.  
  
"At least you knew where you were going on that one." Tommy retorted.  
  
"Where are we?" Roger asked.  
  
"Looks like a castle." Tommy replied, shining a flashlight around.  
  
"If it's some type of consolation..." Shouted the man from somewhere far off. "I never intended for your friend's death, but I warn you, do not try to stop me..."  
  
"You guys think we should follow him?" Iain asked with a wry grin.  
  
"Do you need an answer?" Roger asked sarcastically.  
  
"Just checking." Iain grinned, they than ran off in the direction of the thief's voice.  
  
Chapter Nine  
  
"...the gap, mind...the gap. Stand clear of the doors please..." The taped voiced droned as the curved, red doors of the train slid closed, sealing the passengers away inside for a journey into the ultimate darkness which festered below the cobbled streets of London. Down the platform, two workers stood watching as the train left.  
  
"Now." He hissed, his companion nodded and they jumped down onto the tracks, carrying powerful battery-pack lights, they both took a deep breath and entered the tunnel.  
  
***  
  
They walked, for what seemed like miles, careful to duck into the workman cubbyholes when they heard the rumble and saw the lights of the tube trains which ran along the length and width of the London Underground system.  
  
"Any sign of it?" The first worker spoke.  
  
"No..." The second replied, extracting a camera from under his orange London Transport work uniform. "Nothing so far. Anything on the EMF?" He asked.  
  
"Something...not sure...it's faint..." His companion replied, they continued to walk, moving into the older, lesser used Underground Tunnels. The hum of nearby electricity grew quieter as they noticed fewer wires on the tunnel walls. Half way down the tunnel segment, the first man froze, it was the man with the camera, he nodded towards the side of the tunnel.  
  
"There." He pointed, a large fissure had opened up in the side of the tunnel, having spilt large chunks of concrete between the tracks.  
  
"Something's here." His companion replied, suddenly they looked down as the tunnel began to rumble, then they both turned to see something rushing down the tracks, spilling out bright white light and flashing yellow light.  
  
"Maintenance train! Get to the side of the tunnel!" The photographer shouted, pushing his companion to the side with the fissure as he took the opposite side of the tunnel. The train rushed past, and vanished into the gloom. "Talk about a close one, eh?" He laughed a little...then frowned when he got no reply. "Andy?" He asked, looking up. Andy's flashlight was sat on the tunnel floor, pointing into the hole. "Andy...ANDY!" He hissed. He jogged across the tunnel, careful to mind the live rail and paused beside the hole. "Andy! Get your arse out here, we're not supposed to go in alone, that's what the book said! Andy! ANDY!" He near shouted this time. He leant closer into the hole, he extracted a digital thermometer and directed it into the darkness, the void was signifficantly colder, he could even seen his breath in the air. "Buggering Hell." he swore as he stepped into the void, directing his flashlight around, all around him was rough-hewn rock...and a strange, rasping sound. He strained to hear the noise, and turned in the direction, motioning his flashlight at the source of the noise. "Oh shit..." Hs breathed. Slumped on the floor, in a pool of blood was Andy. The chest of his work uniform was torn to shreds. He dropped his flashlight and the theormometer as he knelt down to help his friend. "Andy...Andy! Speak to me goddammit!" Andy's eyes fluttered open on his pale face, blood spilt from his mouth as he tried to speak.  
  
"B...bb...buh...beh..." He bubbled.  
  
"What? What is it?" Andy's companion asked.  
  
"B...behind you...buh...Ben." Andy moaned. He then passed dead away. Ben turned, there was nothing behind him. He turned back to face Andy, whose eyes were filled with a terror Ben had never seen before.  
  
"Eeep...eeep...eeep..eeep..eeep.eeep.eeep..." Ben turned, it was the EMF Detector beeping wildly, Ben stooped over to pick it up, he stared at it's screen.  
  
"What the hell?" He asked. He then looked up, floating above Andy's corpse was something which could only be described as Primeval, it seemed fierce, and breathtaking, it's hooked talons lay at it's sides of it's black, hooded robe as it studied him with comtempt with blood red eyes, accented with crazy flashes of what could only be described as yellow flames, but the eyes chilled his blood, the very pupils were black as night, and totally soulless. The thing looked skeletal beneath the robe that covered all of it excluding it's face. Ben carefully raised his camera, and took a snapshot, the flash going off and startling the beast, it yelped, then screamed in a furocious, inhuman voice that caused Ben to let go of the camera, it bounced on a cord around his neck as he covered his ears, stumbling out of the tunnel and into the darkness, he ran, fearing that whatever had brutally murdered his friend may try the same on himself.  
  
***  
  
Except from Daily Telegraph.  
  
Date: September 20th, 1993  
  
"BRUTAL MURDER DISCOVERED IN UNDERGROUND  
  
Yesterday a portion of the London Underground was sealed off during an investigation by Metropolitan Police. A body had been discovered after several witnesses saw a man in his late twenties to early thirties, dressed in a London Transport works uniform stumble out of the tunnel, climb the platform and run up the staircase and out onto the street. From preliminary examination the coroner ruled that the man had died due to a vicious series of slashes to the area of the ribcage, combined with serious blood loss. Coronors also discovered unusual insect-like eggs in the vacinity and are conducting tests into whether a insect infestation had occupied the area where the body was discovered. Police and London Underground Officals added that the body had been discovered in a hole which had been made in the side of one of the tunnels. The London Metropolitan Police wish to contact the man seen fleeing the area."  
  
***  
  
For the first time since the portal that the thief had opened, Ben was aware of his surroundings, his body, on the other hand did not. It was stiffly walking in a purposful direction, as if being drawn to a specific point.  
  
"SLOW DOWN!" Detective Giles bellowed.  
  
"Mr. Giles?" Ben asked in surprise.  
  
"Good to see you're awake, you realise I've been following you for five minutes since you left the museum like a zombie?"  
  
"Erm...well." Ben began. "I've only just woken up."  
  
"No kidding." Detective Giles replied sarcastically. Ben looked about more carefully, several feet away, at the end of a pathway leading from the museum was the entrance to South Kensington Underground Station. "Now what the hell is going on?" He asked.  
  
"I...I don't know...I can feel this...thing...it's drawing me, down there." Ben pointed to the oddly darkened Underground entrance, Detective Giles shivered inwardly, something about that darkened entrance, combined with the howl of the wind through the trees chilled him to the bone. Suddenly, Ben's head stirred, Detective Giles could've sworn that the Ghostbuster was listening to something that he couldn't here, then suddenly, Ben's face contorted in pain and he stumbled, covering his ears as he cried out in agony. "Stop it! STOP IT!" He shouted, then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone, but it had left the dazed, zombie-like look in his eyes again.  
  
"Here we go again." Detective Giles muttered as he watched the dazed Ghostbuster walk towards the entrance to the London Underground, a moment later, he quickly followed in persuit.  
  
Chapter Ten  
  
"Well, we've been walking for a half-hour, and all we've seen are stone tunnels...call it a weird kind of intuition, but I'd say we're lost." Roger replied grimly as he flashed his flashlight along the tunnel, yawning darkness behind them and in front of them.  
  
"I'll take that as your professional opinion as an accountant." Tommy replied slyly. Iain moved along at the rear of the group, ever since he'd entered the tunnels, there'd been a weird buzzing sensation near the back of his mind, not only did the tunnels seem familiar...but he knew there was something down there...whethere it was good, or bad wasn't in the strange feeling he'd been given...but one way or the other...he had to find out what it was.  
  
"Guys...call me crazy...but I think that passage to the left might be the way out...I just gotta..." He paused, trying to find an excuse. "Sort out my shoe laces, they're killing me the way they keep coming undone." He lied.  
  
"Sure Iain, if that is the way out, we'll wait at the end." Tommy replied.  
  
"Thanks." Iain replied, he then knelt down, placed his own flashlight on the dirt-covered stone floor and watched as Roger and Tommy dissapeared down the side passage, when he was sure his footsteps couldn't be heard, he picked up the flashlight, turned it on and started to move back down the passageway. As he moved, and the turnings and junctions came and went, the buzzing grew stronger and the sense he knew where he was going grew greater, he knew that he was being drawn by...well...whatever it was that was drawing him. He reached a crossroads in the tunnels, and paused, trying to gain a sense of direction. But there was no direction given...it was almost as if the sound was drawing him to that spot...but there was nothing there.  
  
Not True. A voice answered in Iain's mind, making him jump. He trailed the flashlight around the room, first at the walls, there were a series of tapestries here, one for each wall of the crossroads. The first depicted a lake, a glimmering hand rose from the water, holding a sword. Iain studied the tapestry opposite, and it was identical. He moved to the next passage, it depicted the lake again, but this time a man with longish hair and a beard was taking the sword from the hand in the lake. The Lady of the Lake. Replied the voice.  
  
"Who are you?!" Iain shouted, twisting around, the only answer he got was his voice echoing. He turned back to the third passage, the tapestry there depicted the same man, though older, fighting a similar looking man and a woman.  
  
Morgana Le Fay and Lord Mordred. He turned to the fourth, and last tapestry, it depicted the sword, lying in a pile of rubble. This time there was no voice.  
  
"Hmph." He muttered. He then looked around, he panned the flashlight onto the floor, and paused. Marked into the floor was what looked like the outline of a cartwheel, a large circle, with a smaller circle within it, and the two circles were connected by spokes. Ian stuided this, and then chuckled slightly. Okay, I've seen this one before. He thought, he then trailed the flashlight over the area, looking for something that looked out of place, when he didn't find anything, he checked behind one of the heavy tapestries, and was rewarded when he found what looked like a medieval switch. He then looked back at the first tapestry and found another. He then knew what he'd have to do.  
  
***  
  
Iain pulled back the fourth tapestry and flipped the switch, he then stood off to the side, suddenly he heard the four switches snap back, and then the sound of stone grinding reverberated around the tunnels.  
  
"Yes! Score one for the 'Last Crusade!" He cheered. He then calmed himself down, and shone the flashlight into the newly-discovered stairwell. It seemed colder down there then it was in the tunnels, he took a deep breath and started to climb down the spiral staircase.  
  
***  
  
1995...  
  
He whistled as he walked down High Wycombe High Street, he didn't whistle any particular tune, exactly, just a jumble of notes. However, he did have a place to go on his mind, he's stopped by the local photo shop three days ago to develop some photos, he'd been nurturing a hobby of amateur photography...after all, he would need proof some time.  
  
Proof. 18 year old Iain Bennett mused sourly. How am I going to get a degree in Demonology...if I don't get some proof on film soon? Iain Bennett had always wanted to be a Demonologist, he had been hooked by a fresh wave of interest in the occult which had started in America around 1984 and had eventually spread to England, by the mid 90's it had mutated into the following known as 'New Age'. Iain broke from his thinking as he walked up to the glass front of a shop. A sign above the window read: King Photography, 24 Hours a Day, Seven Days a week. The shop had been around since Iain could remember, though recently, it had witnessed a new arrival in it's staff, a grim-faced man in his early thirties with a pair of glasses perched on his nose, he was notorius for being tough on people trying to rip off the place, Iain had only known him as a shop worker, Iain shrugged and entered the shop, passing picture frames and photo equipment as he went.  
  
"...that'll be a week tuesday...well I'm sorry, but that's the best I can do." A man with grey hair who was balding replied into a telephone in an office set into the back of the shop. That was Mr. King, the shop's owner, and father of the afformentioned man with glasses serving customers at the glass-fronted counter.  
  
"...look, I apologise for the mix up...but we can't be held responsible if there are two customers with the same name...it's just bad luck." The man with glasses replied, a chipped plastic nametag attached to his blue shirt pocket read: BEN.  
  
"How dare you insist I'm an idiot!" A plump woman in a hideous pink dress replied in disgust. "If my young son had seen what was in that photo pack, he would've been mentally scarred for life!" She protested.  
  
"Mrs. Draver-haven...I assure you your son wouldn't have been mentally scarred by photos of classic architecture." The man, Ben, replied, his eyes were drooping, Iain could tell the man didn't care what the woman had to say.  
  
"But...those statues were...n...nak...without clothes!" She flustered.  
  
"Incredible, isn't it?" Ben replied with slight sarcasm. "I mean, who'd have thought it? Naked statues, in Rome of all places?" He asked.  
  
"Don't take that lip with me, I'm on the PTA, and I could have this establishment shut down in a second!" The woman replied.  
  
"Look, Mrs. Draver-Haven, we are not legally responsible for whatever is on those photographs, we just print them, you have your proper ones now, no harm done...besides, we thought Draver-Haven was a pretty unique name as well."  
  
"Hmm." The woman snorted, turned, and walked out of the shop, dragging a terrified three-year old boy with her. He clawed futilly at the door as he was dragged from the safety of other humans.  
  
"Bitch..." Ben muttered beneath his breath, but it was loud enough for Iain to hear.  
  
"Er...hi...photos for Bennett." Iain finally spoke. Ben glared briefly at him, but then his eyes softened sympathetically as he dug the photo packet out of the small file for 'B'.  
  
"Let's see...Bennett...that'd be Iain Bennett right? I don't think I could take two mistaken identities in one day." Ben added.  
  
"Yep, Iain Bennett." Iain replied, he then opened the packed, but was dissapointed to see only blurs on the background in each photograph. Dammit. Iain through. So close.  
  
"Yeah..." Ben pointed a bic biro at the smudged photos. "I was going to ask you about those, I tried to see what caused them, ran the film through the machine three times and got the same every time, whatever that is, it's on the negatives." he explained.  
  
"I guess there's no way to get a clearer image then?" Iain asked.  
  
"Well." Ben mused, rubbing his chin which sported a slowly developing stubble. "Depending on what camera you have, and how much you're willing to pay for a new one." He explained. "What type of camera did you use?" Ben asked.  
  
"An old disposable, it was the only one I could get at." Iain replied.  
  
"Ah, we there's your answer, you're not going to get a great amount of detail on a piece of crap like that." Ben replied. "Tell you what, we're getting a new stock of cameras in next week, why not stop by then?" He suggested.  
  
"Sure...will do." Iain replied as he pocketed the photos.  
  
"One more thing." Ben added. "What were you trying to take a picture of?" He asked, curiousity on his face.  
  
"Erm...well..."  
  
"C'mon, it's not nude photos, so it's not illegal." Ben quipped.  
  
"I was...er...trying to capture a ghost on film." Iain replied, he was a little startled at just how much colour had drained from Ben's face.  
  
"Ah...right...well..erm...see you next week..." Ben replied in a slight daze.  
  
"Yeah...sure." Iain replied, leaving the shop.  
  
Chapter Eleven  
  
"Iain's been gone nearly twenty minutes, I don't think he's coming back." Roger replied after having consulted his watch. They both stood out the end of the tunnel, blue moonlight shon from a full moon above and was refracted by the hovering clouds of mist. Behind them stood the entrance to the tunnels, beneath a hazel tree and a bell which sounded quietly as it swung in the breeze.  
  
Dammit Iain! "What do you suggest?" Tommy asked.  
  
"Eh...well..." Roger began running his hand through his hair. "We want to wait for Iain, then stay here, and probably let that guy get away...but..."  
  
"Yes?" Tommy asked.  
  
"We leave Iain, keep our radios on, and go after that guy." Roger replied. "As simple as that." Tommy rubbed his chin at the choices.  
  
"Very well, let's get after this guy." Tommy replied.  
  
"Right..." Roger agreed, they then moved off. Tommy reached down, and grabbed the Nokia radio he had on his belt.  
  
"Iain, come in, do you read me, over?" The only reply he was given was static. "Iain, if you can hear this, then listen closely, we're going after the bastard, there's some kind of castle out here, you were right...I don't know how, but you knew where the exit was, get up here as fast as you can, over." He then charged off to catch up with Roger.  
  
***  
  
A banner suspended over the entranceway read: Ruby Moon - Occult Oddities and Rare Books. 20 year old Tommy Simpson grinned and walked into the shop, seeing if there was anything else worth buying. Apart from a goth girl who stood behind the counter reading a magazine and chewing gum, there was one other person in the shop, a kid in his late teens with brown hair and a small crucifix hung around his neck. He was studying books on a rotating book display which had several sticky white labels with the word: DEMONOLOGY stuck to it. Tommy walked over to the glass counter which provided most of the upright strength of the gothic girl.  
  
"Zoey." He greeted.  
  
"Hey, Tommy." She smiled and looked up from the magazine. "What you up to?" She asked.  
  
"Oh, same old, same old." Tommy replied. "Has the latest issue of Occult USA Today arrived yet?" He asked.  
  
"Let me just check." Zoey the goth replied, abandonning the magazine and checking under the counter and nearby shelves, she eventually came back with a fairly thick magazine with the title spelt out in bold, blue lettering. "There you go...I think it says somewhere on the cover that there's a story about that big paranormal-ghost-breaking team in America." Zoey added.  
  
"That bunch of guys with the monkey? Give me a break!" Tommy replied as he glanced through the magazine, behind him, the teen with the crucifix's head popped up from the shelves, had anyeone else seen it, they may've thought the kid was trying to read the article in the magazine. "Anything on the latest edition of Engineering and Equipment for detecting the Paranormal?" He asked.  
  
"No word yet, probably out next week." Zoey replied.  
  
"Well, thanks." Tommy replied, he then moved away from the counter and started to look at the other articles to buy in the shop. As he moved about, he saw the kid admiring a large, silver broadsword which was locked away in a display case.  
  
"Sweet." The kid said quietly. Tommy chuckled to himself. He then looked up, spotting Tommy. "S'cuse me, how much is this sword?" He asked.  
  
"Well..." Tommy began, rubbing his chin. "I'd say anything, really, I don't know due to my not working here." Tommy replied.  
  
"Oh....oh! Sorry." The kid replied. He then studied the magazine. "Hey, how much you need to pay to order that?" He asked.  
  
"Erm...a tenner...I think..." Tommy replied. He then studied the kid with a raised eyebrow. "You interested in the paranormal?" He asked.  
  
"Nah...I just go into occult shops to mingle..." The kid replied wth a sly grin.  
  
"Yeah..." Tommy replied, rolling his eyes. "Hey Zoey!" Tommy shouted across the shop.  
  
"Yeah?" The girl replied.  
  
"We got a guy wanting to start a order for Occult USA Today!" Tommy shouted back.  
  
"What's his name?" Zoey asked.  
  
"Oh...uh...yeah, what's your name?" Tommy asked.  
  
"Bennett, Iain Bennett." The kid replied.  
  
"Says his name is Bennett!" Tommy shouted.  
  
"Got it." Zoey replied, making a note in a small ledger.  
  
"Well, I'll see you around, Iain." Tommy replied, moving towards the door.  
  
"Yeah, thanks...hey, what's your name? If we cross paths again?" Iain asked.  
  
"Tommy Simpson, see you around, Iain." With that, Tommy left the shop.  
  
Chapter Twelve  
  
He stalked through the corridors of the castle, out of the things he'd seen during his career, he had to admit this was high up on the scale of crazy shit he'd seen. He paused by a window, it's glass was missing and it allowed the unbridled moonlight to stream in, below, he could just make out two shapes making their way to the castle.  
  
No Matter. He through, he'd be long gone by the time they worked out what he'd taken. He moved along. Overall the day had been going spectacularily badly, and he could pinpoint the exact moment everything had started to go wrong. The incident at one of his small hideouts in the London Underground. The boy's death hadn't been part of the plan, why had those idiots tried to outsmart him? The boy was dead, and everything was going wrong! If they'd just done what he'd asked them, then the boy would be alive and then all they'd be worrying about is the loss of one, stupid book. That was the problem, he surmised, the human element. Take that out, and almost every plan would work, but the human element couldn't be removed, and he cursed that fact. He then swore under his breath and moved on along the passageway of the castle, looking for his goal.  
  
***  
  
Iain had descended the spiral staircase and was walking along a small tunnel, it was barely big enough for him to stand fully upright, the area was deathly quiet, the sound of his own heart and breath were the only sounds he could hear, other then his own echoing footsteps.  
  
"Iain, come in, do you read me, over?" Iain jumped, not expecting the call. Iain grabbed his radio and pressed the button to talk back.  
  
"Yeah Tommy...what is it?" A few moments passed.  
  
"Iain, if you can hear this, then listen closely, we're going after the bastard, there's some kind of castle out here, you were right...I don't know how, but you knew where the exit was, get up here as fast as you can, over." Iain tried again.  
  
"Tommy...Tommy! Can you hear me! Tommy! Dammit." He cursed, he couldn't explain why, but he couldn't radio out, he decided it couldn't be the stone, otherwise he wouldn't have heard Tommy radioing in, it must've been something else. He kept on moving, the tunnel seemed to stretch on into blackness that his flashlight had trouble trying to penetrate. For the first time, he noticed just how cold it was in the tunnel, each time he exhaled, a cloud of white condensation floated up into the air and dissapated. Marvellous, bloody marvellous. He thought sourly. I'm stuck under the earth in these blasted tunnels following some stupid buzzing in my brain which has been telling me to go this way...I must be out of my blinking mind! I should've stayed with Tommy, safety in numbers...and they only have one Proton Pistol. For a while he decided to just keep his mind on walking as he moved further and further down the seemingly never ending tunnel.  
  
***  
  
Detective Giles followed Ben as they entered South Kensington Underground Station a proper, he watched as Ben motionlessly pulled himself over the turnstyle, much to the annoyance of the nearby London Transport Security Guard.  
  
"Oi! What do you think you're playing at? All travellers must pay the fare!" He shouted as he moved to restrain the possessed Ghostbuster.  
  
"He's with me." Detective Giles flashed his badge to the guard.  
  
"Very well, but keep him on a lead or something." The Guard replied, removing his peaked cap and scratching his balding head before replacing it.  
  
"Mr. King, Mr. King!" Detective Giles shouted, he then caught up with Ben and tugged forcefully on the ghostbuster's elbow, turning him around to face him. "WAKE UP!" The glazed over look vanished for the moment, and Ben blinked several times, taking in the change in light, he then looked around, taking in the change of scenery.  
  
"W...where are we?" Ben asked, looking around for a sign.  
  
"South Kensington Station...you walked off in a daze after we were outside the tunnel entrance back at the museum."  
  
"Oh...yes." Ben replied dully, as if just remembering.  
  
"Can you feel it drawing you?" Detective Giles asked, a stern look on his face.  
  
"Yes...it's drawing me...there." Ben pointed at a arch, next to it was a sign which read: Eastbound Trains, Picadilly and Jubilee Lines.  
  
"It's drawing you east?" Detective Giles asked.  
  
"Not exactly...I know where it's telling me to go next...we'll be needing the next train to Holborn Station." Ben replied as he made his way the Eastbound Platform.  
  
"And do you know where we'll be going after that?" Detective Giles asked.  
  
"Not yet...but I probably will when we disembark at Holborn." Ben replied with a strained grin.  
  
"Jesus, I don't know how much more I can put up with!" Detective Giles swore. "Do you even have any idea what's drawing you?" He asked, looking like a man who'd been short changed on answers.  
  
"I have an idea...if I'm right, it's something I haven't seen in a decade. Something that started my interest into some of the darker aspects of the occult...the thing that killed that man, Arnold Brookes."  
  
"Jeez...you're telling me this thing's some kind of...demon?" Detective Giles asked.  
  
"Well...to be blunt, yes." Ben replied as they entered the Eastbound Platform, a electronic departure board stated the next train bount for Holborn Station would be arriving in less then five minutes. "Though, I'd be surprised if you said that demons didn't exist." He added.  
  
"Well, after seeing that portal, I'm not sure what to believe...which includes demons."  
  
"Well Iain can attest to that, and so can I." Ben replied, sitting down at one of the unoccupied plastic benches. The truth is this thing killed when I last saw it, a friend of mine..." Something Ben had said had obviously tugging at the Detective's memory.  
  
"You said this thing's killed before? And you said you encountered it, what? Ten years ago? I don't suppose this has any relation to a similar murder in the Underground, around September '93?" Detective Giles asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.  
  
"If you must know, yes, that was the last encounter I had with the...thing."  
  
"They never did find who killed that lad...or the other lad who was seen running from the scene of the crime...what stops me from thinking that you weren't responsible for the murder?" Detective Giles asked grimly.  
  
"Apart from the fact he was my best friend, and that you've been shown a portal to another realm, if it is the thing that's been drawing me, then within the hour we'll be at the creature's lair." Ben replied, once he had finished, the Ghostbuster and Policeman waited in silence until a red, white and blue London Underground Tube Train rumbled into the station, they waited a moment for the curved doors to slide open, and then they boarded the train.  
  
"This train will be stopping at..." The digital sign read. "Knightsbridge...Hyde Park Corner...Green Park...Picadilly Circus...Covent Garden...Holborn...Russell Square and King's Cross..."  
  
"Seven stops...marvellous..." Detective Giles muttered as the curved doors slid closed behind them. A moment later and the train rumbled into the tunnel on it's way to Knightsbridge Underground Station.  
  
Chapter Thirteen  
  
Tommy and Roger walked through near dark, at their sides swung their flashlights on their equipment belts, it wasn't the case that they wanted to walk near-blindedly through the dark hallways and rooms of the castle, but they'd decided that they had a better chance sneaking up on the guy if they didn't blunder about with bright lights which could alert the guy of their approach.  
  
"You ask me, whatever this guy's looking for, it's at the top of the castle." Roger spoke quietly.  
  
"Yeah? What gives you that idea?" Tommy asked, an eyebrow raised showing his skepticism.  
  
"They always are." Roger replied with a slight grin, Tommy rolled his eyes and they carried on. After a while, he broke the silence.  
  
"We haven't seen the guy in half an hour, what're the chances he's still here? he could've grabbed what he was after, skiddaddled before we were halfway through this place and leave all three of us here, trapped on this godforsaken rock in the middle of a alternate dimension?" He asked.  
  
"Well..." Roger replied, scratching his chin. "There's always that possibility...but it won't hurt to try."  
  
"That's what irritates me, we don't even know what the guy's looking for, we don't even know if there's something dangerous lurking around here. I hate this...I wonder if Jim had the right idea, quitting before things got really bad." Tommy replied sourly.  
  
"Hey." Roger said quickly, sternly, but silently. "Jim was a sell out, from what I hear, he was too cowardly to stay with SPRIG just when it hit the big time and became GBUK, don't fall apart on me."  
  
"Yeah...you're right." Tommy replied. "God...what happened to Iain? And what might've happened to Ben? He wasn't exactly taking Euan's...err...death all that well."  
  
"That's just going to have to wait until we catch this guy, stop him from stealing whatever he's hear to steal, find Iain and get our British Butts back to Britain."  
  
"Easier said then done, Roger." Tommy replied sarcastically as they moved on.  
  
What did that guy say he was after?" Roger asked, Tommy thought the question over for a moment.  
  
"The Holy Grail...if I remember correctly."  
  
"You think it's real?" Roger asked.  
  
"Right now, it's becoming one of those days...so it might just well be real." Tommy replied, shrugging.  
  
***  
  
Carlos looked about, he was stood in a intersection in the castle corridor, he had three choices, one route at 3 'o' clock, one at 12 'o' clock and one at 9 'o' clock, and he didn't know which one to try. The main problem he'd found was that the castle was almost like a maze, it seemed bigger on the inside then it was on the outside. He's passed through room after room, finding a staircase here and a hallway there, slowly making his way up to the top of the structure, and while on the outside he exibited the calm, collected appearance he'd had when he'd capped that street bum, inside he was becoming irritated and anxious, he hadn't gone through the portal by choice, more he had been forced to take it as a way of getting away from the Ghostbusters, but they'd blundered into whatever this place was after him, and now he had to find the Grail quickly before the Ghostbusters caught up with him. He finally made up his mind, and quickly moved down the passageway straight ahead of him, hoping it led to another staircase, and the final room which contained the Grail.  
  
Chapter Fourteen  
  
Finally, after what seemed like an age, Iain entered a large underground chamber, which oddly wasn't totally chocked with darkness. In the gloom he could make out several different types of objects, he could just see tapestries hung on the walls, large suits of armour which gleamed with a dull sheen from decades...maybe even centuries of dust. Hung on wooden poles were tattered banners displaying coats of arms, hung on the walls were wooden and metal weapons, swords, sheilds, pikes, staffs, maces and even flails, to the eye it appeared like any other Medieval exibit at a museum, the effect was enhansed by the central arefact, the single source of light was a pillar of the stuff which shon down on a small statue which bore something that looked like a tray, upon it rested the sword, to Iain, it looked like something straight out of Lord of the Rings, the only difference was this sword wasn't broken, it was intact. He studied it, the sword emitted a something which buzzed at the back of his neck...it had drawn him there. He studied the sword's detail in awe, it was a beautifully crafted piece. The blade was completely silver, and reflected Iain's amazed expression like a mirror. The sword's hilt was an odd mixture of gold and silver, which produced a pale yellow color, the ends of the hilt were crafted as gilt circles. The grip of the handle of the sword was a deep, dark red, the base of the sword's handle was the same pale yellow colour. In all, it was an impressive sword...yet it seemed to Iain like it was extrememly old, almost as old as the room itself, yet the sword was in impecible condition...it didn't even seem to have gathered a single spec of dust, almost like it had been placed there yesterday. He inspected the blade further, carved into it were a set of runes he couldn't decipher. Iain slowly reached a gloved hand forward to grasp the handle of the sword. A sharp clang and a slightly rusted blade striking the statue near his hand brought that idea to an end, he turned and froze at what he saw.  
  
***  
  
Ben and Detecive Giles disembarked from the train at Holborn Station and stood as the passengers milled about on their way, either to other trains or on their way out of the station. Detective Giles studied the pose the Ghostbuster had taken, almost as if straining to hear the sound of a mobile phone hidden in the front row from the very back of the Albert Hall.  
  
"Follow." Ben replied quietly, moving off, Detective Giles followed as the Ghostbuster climbed a staircase up to a passageway which vanished off in two directions from the station platform, he then followed the Ghostbuster as he choose the right hand passageway, turned a left and then entered a small ticket area, he followed as Ben made a beeline toward a sign which read: Westbound Platform, after a quick study Ben moved off, purpousfully. Detective Giles took a quick glance at the sign, and was able to read out the lines which ran through the tunnel that the Ghostbuster was walking to, The Central Line. He quickly made his way down the staircase and onto the platform, he darted through commuters and was able to board the train before the doors slid closed behind him, he sat down beside the decidedly dazed looking Ben King, who was now waking again from the trance, it hadn't been as strong on him as before, but it still had left him blinking at the change of location.  
  
"Oh." He simply said.  
  
"This train will be stopping at..." The lines of text read on the digital signs placed above the windows in the train carriage. "Tottenham Court Road...Oxford Circus...Bond Street...Marble Arch...Lancaster Gate...Queensway...Notting Hill Gate and Holland Park...".  
  
"Where to, this time?" Detective Giles asked tiredly, this was no way to catch up on his Underground layout skills.  
  
"Marble Arch...that's where it happened last time...this has to be the same demon..." Ben replied thoughtfully.  
  
"Is it a good thing that this...demon thing can draw you there? It's been no mean feat either, Central London isn't exactly small. Is it possible this thing could control you in other ways?"  
  
"Possible...but we don't know what type of demon it was...I wish Iain was here, he might be able to give us some clues...I think he'd been working on it at HQ before..." Ben quickly ended the talk. Detective Giles didn't need to ask. The train rumbled on in near silence, as it did so, Ben removed the Proton Pistol from the clip on his belt and examined it, it was still plugged into it's power source and fully charged. The Proton Pistol was a left-over from the short live 'Extreme Ghostbusters' franchise in the New York offices, a short period before the official reformation of Ghostbusters Inc, and while the Proton Cannister Packs had been all but totally decomishioned, they and the theory behind them were still in use, including a development made a few months back by one of GBI's West Coast outfits. However, what had gained more praise and interest had been the Proton Pistol, which had been invented alongside the Proton Cannisters during the short refurbishment period of 1997-1999 when it had been mistakenly established that the classic 1984 Varient Proton Packs were under-powered, however thus since 1999, the original Pack designs had been reestablished, however some lessons had been garnered from the short refurbishment and had been implemented into the restored hardware, one of the additions to the Ghostbusters Inc equipment list was the Proton Pistol, which had been given a fairly good reputation by the New York office, the disbanded NOMAD, one of the West Coast Franchises and one of the Chicago Devisions.  
  
"Does that thing have enough power in it?" Detective Giles asked.  
  
"Not for prolonged containment...it was originally made to work alongside the regular Proton Packs...but it's been upgraded, it can shoot a stream, or more powerful 'shots'...I'm hoping I can paralyise the thing with the first shot, or at least knock it for six, then, when it least suspects it, I'll use this." Ben replied, tapping the large box clipped to his belt, the Ghost Trap.  
  
"And you're sure you can handle this thing without the rest of the team?" Detective Giles asked.  
  
"No." Ben replied, checking the pistol's sight. "First rule of ghostbusting is never go on a job alone...well, we'll just have to see how well this plan works, won't we?" Ben asked witha crooked grin as the train arrived in Bond Street Station.  
  
"Dont mind me if I don't have much faith in this plan." Detective Giles replied honestly.  
  
***  
  
"This is useless." Roger muttered. "This place is a maze, if I was surer, I'd swear the rooms are moving."  
  
"Something from Labyrinth eh?" Tommy replied with a defiant grin.  
  
"You bring lipstick? If so then we might have a chance...if there aren't goblins hidden under the floor slates." Roger joked.  
  
"And you'd know lipstick from personal experience?" Tommy replied with a raised eyebrow. Roger was about to retaliate when he heard something, it was very distinct, footsteps, and they didn't belong to the the boot clad feet of the Ghostbusters, it was someone who'd been clad for stealth, but had apparantly abandonned the stealth...probably their kidnapper, thinking he'd left Roger and Tommy back in the tunnels. Roger motioned for Tommy to remain quiet, and then he motioned for them to fall back against the wall near the junction. A few minutes later the kidnapper walked past, he was still clad in the black suit he'd worn at the musuem, sans mask. But the guy's pose and stride were of a man who believed there was no-one else there. He was dead wrong. Roger looked at Tommy and motioned to walk on tip toe with the fingers of his right hand. Tommy nodded and they crept into the hallway behind the kidnapper, being careful to keep the noise made by their boots to a bare minimum. They followed him as he traversed rooms, passageways and hallways which twisted, turned and totally disorientated them, the collected by unknown group let out a silent prayer of thanks whenever they found a set of stairs, one more set of stairs was one less level to search for the Grail. After what seemed like half an hour, Tommy and Roger followed the kidnapper into a large round room, apparantly it had been a meeting room of sorts, the room was dominated by several different coats of arms and suits of armour at spaced intervals, each coat of arms was different from the one before it, almost as if they were the different coats of arms of different regions, presumably they belonged to knights of many different realms of whatever country had lain on the other side of the portal from the museum. In the center of the room was a large, round table, a small wooden chair was placed in front of each suit of amour and coat of arms. But the most striking feature of the room was the very central-point, a small pedestal rose from the stone floor. Atop it were two objects, a crystal decanter which sparkled in the soft light which filtered down from above. The other object, in stark contrast was a very dull looking wooden goblet, a few strains of gold paint could be seen flaking away on the surface of the goblet. The kidnapper moved towards it, climbing over the table to examin it, he then turned away and in an almost uncharacteristic change he yelled his fury.  
  
"Dammit! Where is it?! Where is the Grail?!" He bellowed.  
  
"You've never seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, have you?" Tommy asked sarcastically.  
  
"You!" The kidnapper fumed. "How'd you get past the maze? I barely made it!"  
  
"We kinda tagged along for the ride." Roger replied. "Tommy said something, if you weren't listening, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."  
  
"What about it?" The kidnapper spat, he was starting to calm down a little.  
  
"In it they did something that no other film about the grail had done...they didn't have the true grail a piece of gold encrusted by rubies or emeralds." Tommy explained.  
  
"Popular belief." Roger added.  
  
"They had the Grail as a simple, carved goblet...as Harrison Ford said...'the cup of a carpenter'." Tommy finished. The kidnapper took a moment to look at the Grail, then quickly made a move for it, Tommy and Roger also moved quickly, the group crashed into the pedestal, tipping the contents.  
  
"Shit!" Roger swore and dived for the crystal decanter, catching it before it hit the hard floor and shattered, the Grail fell and rolled across the floor, rolling under the edge of the round table.  
  
"BASTARD!" The kidnapper shouted, kicking Tommy in the gut, winding him. Tommy wheezed as the breath was knocked out of him, but he pulled himself up and lauched himself onto the attacker's back, knocking him to the stone floor where they began to wrestle, both to knock each other out and grab the Grail before the other did. Roger watched as the two of them scuffled across the stone floor, knocking the Grail rolling as they went.  
  
***  
  
Iain studied the new arrival, the man was slightly taller, significantly older and looked pissed off to high heaven.  
  
"Erm...hi." He greeted the man in armour.  
  
"Stay thy hand off of that sword...you have no right to weild it." The knight replied coldly, his gaze narrowed as he studied Iain. "So this is the latest fashion? Probably the best a commoner lad like you could afford."  
  
"Commoner! What century are you from?" Iain asked incredulously.  
  
"More like you should be asking which century you are in, lad." The knight replied, he then raised his sword and swung it at Iain, Iain ducked and rolled, managing to miss the lethal blade with new-found dexterity.  
  
Woah! Where'd that come from? He thought, moments before he ducked his head, preventing the knight from slicing it off. "Who are you?" Iain asked as he tried to spot a close-by weapon.  
  
"Sir Launcelot, servant of King Arthour and Lady Guinevere." The knight replied, swiping the sword at Iain and slicing one of the banner poles in half.  
  
Shit! This guy's nuts! Iain's mind raced until it settled on a sword which had been hung on the wall alongside a sheild. "Look!" Iain pointed to a space behind Launcelot's left shoulder. "Dragon!" He added.  
  
"What?" Launcelot replied in surprise, he then turned, allowing Iain the chance to grab the sword and sheild, which weighed his arms down heavily.  
  
"Dog! I shall slice your throat for that!" Launcelot fumed, bringing the sword down for the kill, Iain managed to slide the sheild into place, the resounding clash reverberated around the chamber as sparks rained from the clashing metal. Iain's mind raced, what was he going to do? It was obvious this guy was crazed...and had weaponry which could do some serious damage if he knew how to use them...and apparantly, he knew how to use them. If only he could get something to knock the guy out. Iain thrust his sword up, it clashed with Launcelot's...and then something clattered nearby, he then heard the crazed knight laugh, and he studied his sword, it had broken off at the hilt, the blade lay nearby.  
  
"Shit! Who makes this stuff?" Iain replied incredulously, he then threw the hilt and handle at Launcelot's face, catching the laughing knight off guard and gaining him a moment's respite. Iain quickly moved off as the Knight picked up his own dropped sheild, he then followed quickly. He approached the tunnel entrance which Iain had vanished through, and then juddered back, stuck between two plates in his armour was a wooden pole, hung off the opposite end of the pole like a man in a jousting competition was Iain, on his left arm was hung the sheild and on his head was a newly aquired helmet, he grinned defiantly as he tried to push the pole in deeper.  
  
"RRRRRRAAAAGGGGHHH!" Launcelot growlled loudly, he then swung his body sideways towards the corner in the way, the pole cracked once, twice and then snapped, dropping Iain on the stone floor hard. Iain glanced up, Launcelot was trying to pull the pole from the suit of armour, but it was jammed between the two plates...Iain realised...he only had one shot at it, if he failed, he'd be mincemeat for sure.  
  
Chapter Fifteen  
  
The train pulled into Marble Arch Underground Station, when the curved doors of the train opened, Ben and Detective Giles disembarked from the train and walked along the platform towards the tunnel entrance, as they moved the Underground Train began to pull away from the platform, taking it's passengers further along the Central Line. Once Ben was sure that they wouldn't be spotted, he jumped down to the track, followed by Detective Giles. As they walked, Ben unclipped one of the many devices which had been clipped to his utility belt, and studied the spare PKE meter he'd brought with him, in addition to the one with Carlos' bio signature. He studied it intently, but his attention wasn't taken up by the PKE Meter, as soon as he heard the familiar vibration in the metal rails he knew when to duck into cubbyholes and wait for the noise and light of the Underground Train to pass. Once it did, he moved on again.  
  
"You ever read that book, Domain?" Detective Giles asked in the darkness behind Ben, following the faint glow of the Ghostbuster's PKE Meter.  
  
"Can't say it's familiar." Ben replied, studying the meter's readings for when to make the turn.  
  
"Well I have...a nuclear bomb blast went off over Battersea and Hyde Park, destroyed most of the city...and brought these godforsaken cannibal rats, hundreds of them...thousands of them...you don't suppose there could be ones like that down here too?" Detective Giles asked.  
  
"Anything's possible." Ben replied grimly. He then paused, unclipped something from his belt and handed it to Detective Giles. "Here, take this."  
  
"What is it?" Detective Giles asked.  
  
"Flashlight...I can't hold it if I'm going to hold both this meter and the Proton Pistol."  
  
"Right..." Detective Giles agreed, taking the offered piece of equipment. "How much further is it?"  
  
"Not to far..." Ben replied quietly, they ducked into another cubbyhole as another train rumbled past. Once the train had passed, they reached a junction in the tunnel, remembering the way, Ben turned down the right fork of the tunnel. Like before, the once-loud hum of electricity grew quieter as the number of cables which snaked across the tunnel wall grew smaller. Before he knew it, they were stood within fifteen metres of the spot where Ben had stood ten years before with lond-dead Andy.  
  
"Brrr..." Detective Giles noticably shivered. "Is it me, or is it getting colder?" he asked, a small cloud of condensation escaped from his lips.  
  
"It is." Ben noted grimly. He reached down to his right hip and unholstered the Proton Pistol, he then armed it, and started to move towards the darkened hole. "Keep that light pointed at that hole, once we're inside I'm going to need you to keep that on a moving target.  
  
"Sure can, won a prize for my daughter at one of those shooting galleries at a fair last year." Detective Giles replied.  
  
"Right...stay behind me, and keep your guard." Ben replied, he then stepped through the hole and into the catacomb, a wave of familiarity hit him once he'd entered, if he'd had the flashlight, he was sure he'd see a body slumped on the ground off to his right. In front of him, the PKE meter beeped loudly in the opressive darkness.  
  
"Is it here?" Detective Giles asked, trailing the light to the rock in front of them.  
  
"Something is, anyway...Show yourself!" Ben shouted into the gloom.  
  
"Who daresss disssturb my ssslumber?" A voice hissed, it was lizardlike, but it hid a crueller, colder tone.  
  
"I do! Show yourself to me, monster!" Ben replied.  
  
"That voice! I am sssure I know it." The voice replied.  
  
"Have you really forgotten, in ten years?" Ben replied.  
  
"Ah yesss! The boy! It's coming back to me...how you've changed!" A shadow began to form from the gloom, as if it had been part of the gloom and shadow of the catacomb. "I sssee that the lure was too ssstrong to resssissst!" The demon replied, it's cruel, soulless eyes reguarded the two humans with an almost human curiosity, it made both men shudder inwardly.  
  
"Well I'm here now, it's time to end this." Ben retorted.  
  
"Really? What makesss you think you can defeat me? Lassst time we were at this point, you turned and fled...what hasss changed?" It asked.  
  
"A lot of things." Ben replied, raising the Proton Pistol to face the demon.  
  
"A weapon? You humansss are more foolisssh then I thought!"  
  
"This pistol doesn't shoot bullets." Ben replied, and pulled the trigger.  
  
***  
  
Iain jumped up, charged at Launcelot and let slip a battlecry, he aimed for the knight's head, Launcelot, anticipating this move raised his sheild to block his face, just what Iain had been hoping to get, he then twisted his leg in mid jump, and brought it down on the snapped pole, driving it further into the suit of armour, Launcelot growlled in pain and surprise as he tumbled to the stone floor.  
  
***  
  
Tommy and Carlos grabbed across the floor, quickly rolling towards a window set into the side of the castle. Carlos dealt Tommy another kick to the gut and got up, Tommy pulled himself up a moment later and threw himself onto Carlos' back, the two of them tumbled against the wall, Tommy turned the kidnapper and murderer around, pulled a fist back and prepared to land a blow on the man's face.  
  
Chapter Sixteen  
  
"So as I was saying..." Iain Bennett replied as he re-entered King Photography, he'd led the newly aquainted Tommy Simpson to the shop on his way to purchase some of the previously discussed camera equipment. "They're selling some top of the line photo equipment here, real pro stuff for great prices!" Iain enthused.  
  
"I don't know." Tommy replied, rubbing his chin. "I'm not sure I want to start buying camera stuff when we don't even have a group formed." He added.  
  
"It's simple!" Iain added. "What we do is this, we form a group with this mate of mine, Jim Harley, you'll like him, real pro when it comes to regular paranormal stuff."  
  
"As apposed to?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"He's not that good at Demonology." Iain replied quietly, rubbing the back of his head.  
  
"And you are?" Tommy asked.  
  
"Well...erm...yeah...I guess." Iain replied. "Anyway, we set up an investigation group, that way we could develop our own equipment."  
  
"Sounds more like a pipe-dream." Quipped a over-skeptical voice at the desk.  
  
"Hey mate, why not try staying out of the convo for your own sake." Tommy replied hotly.  
  
"Err...okay...Tommy, this is Ben, the guy I was telling you about."  
  
"Oh...cheap camera guy, you never mentioned he was also sarcastic." Tommy quietly replied.  
  
"What can I do for you guys?" Ben asked, turning his full attention to the two customers.  
  
"We'd like to talk cameras...y'know, those special ones for good prices." He returned with a list of prices. "That's fairly simple, stuff at the bottom of the page is the cheap end of the scale, stuff at the top's the more expensive. He then raised an eyebrow inquisitivly. "This is shopping for equipment for the...er...paranormal?" He asked.  
  
"Yeah." Iain replied. "I'm trying to start a team, Ben, meet Tommy, he's a guy I got talking with at a place of joint interest." Iain explained.  
  
"Right." Ben replied. "Look...I don't mind people getting a group hobby...but the paranormal...you're far too young to be doing the stuff that professional investigators have been doing for years." Ben replied.  
  
"Hey, what is your problem?" Tommy rounded on the camera salesman. "Ever since he stepped in here you've been trying to kill off his idea...are you just one of those people who doesn't believe in the paranormal?"  
  
"Hey! I believe in it, and I know enough not to go blundering into it!" Ben protested.  
  
"Blundering! I bet you've never even been on a decent investigation!" Tommy returned.  
  
"If only you knew!" Ben retorted. Iain, who until recently had been watching the verbal wrestling, finally reached the limit of tollerance.  
  
"OKAY!" He shouted, halting Ben and Tommy. They both looked at him. "Look Ben, I thought you were cool...what the hell is your problem with the paranormal?" Iain asked.  
  
"A very bad experience." Ben replied, folding his arms.  
  
"Like you'd know." Tommy replied.  
  
"Alright, knock it off." Iain replied. "Do you still have some of your stuff left over from when you used to investigate?" Iain asked.  
  
"Maybe..." Ben replied. He then reluctantly stood up, walked over to the shop door, locked it and flipped a sign wich read: BE RIGHT BACK. "You must promice, you are not to tell anyone of what you are about to see."  
  
"Sure." Iain replied.  
  
"Yeah." Tommy agreed.  
  
"Very well." Ben replied, he led them to the back of the shop and too a door which looked like one of the other darkroom doors. He extracted a ring of keys, unlocked the door and opened it, he ushered the two customers into the darkroom, closed the door behind him, and then tugged on a cord. A moment later the room became illuminated, and Iain and Tommy were met with an unusual site. The room was laid out similar to a standard darkroom, near the back was a sink, several chemical trays, an optical enlarger, a cord suspended over the workbench which held a few photos clipped to it. In one corner sat a computer, a printer set up beside it. Adorning the walls were noticeboards with photos, newspaper clippings and magazine covers. Shoved into small piles here and there were occult magazines, and in even smaller quantities were some occult reference books. The devlopment area was seperated by a blackout curtain, but at the point in time the material was parted due to no photos being developed. Iain and Tommy studied the mounted noticeboards, most of the pinned up photos seemed okay, regular landscapes and buildings, but a large majority of them were more then average holiday-snaps. Several depicted undefined mists or shadows, however, one large and fairly spectacular shot depicted Stonehenge, a large explosion of violet energy surrounded the structure as a blurred figure shot from the center of the anchient monument. Several black and white print-outs set next to it on the wall had varius notes and attempts to identify what the shadow was. As Iain and Tommy studied the photo and it's analysis, Ben quickly moved over to a computer, booted it up and started typing away quickly. Several programs opened up as he started to check some of the files stored on the computer. Iain moved over to a lone filing cabinet set at the back of the room, atop it was a folder, a single sticker on it read: London Underground, September '93. Iain opened the file and studied the contents, there was a series of newspaper clippings, stories of dissapearances and odd events surrounding the tunnels leading from Marble Arch Underground Station, then he found a newspaper clipping dated the very month the folder was dated.  
  
"'Brutal murder discovered in Underground'..." Iain read the title line and then started to read the article, once he'd read the article he studied a single photograph which had been clipped to the back of the folder, it depicted a fierce looking entity whith cruel, heartless eyes. The photograph, along with the one taken of Stone Henge were by the far the most advanced and clear to view. Iain nodded for Tommy to study the folder, after a moment, Tommy released a low whistle.  
  
"This was you...wasn't it?" Iain asked, holding up the newspaper clipping. "This is why you were trying to stop us?" Iain asked, turning his gaze to the photographer.  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about." He spat.  
  
"Hey, we don't know what your problem is, and I don't really care what it is, but there was no need for that." Tommy replied back. Ben forced a fierce gaze on them, to them he seemed older then he appeared in his eyes.  
  
"You still have no idea, that photograph only gives you an idea of what that thing was, even if it's scaring you now, if you were there you'd be terrified...I learnt a valuable lesson from the mistake of going down there." Ben replied, turning back to his typing.  
  
"And that is?" Tommy asked.  
  
"That sometimes the persuit of science is just not worth it. I lost a friend to that thing...I don't want to let you two run that risk...you're young...idealistic...I've been doing this for nearly five years..."  
  
"And I suppose it makes you an expert?" Tommy asked.  
  
"More of an expert then you!" Ben fumed.  
  
"Okay...okay..." Iain replied. He then turned to whisper to Tommy. "You think we could get him to join us?" He asked.  
  
"What? Are you serious? This guy's nuts!" Tommy replied incredulously.  
  
"Maybe, but he's taken all these spirit photos, and he's got the know how." Iain replied. Tommy looked first at Ben, and then Iain skeptically.  
  
"Are you totally sure you want to do this?"  
  
"Yeah, besides, I'd reckon with you, me, Jim and this guy, we could make a killer team!" Iain added.  
  
"Very well." Tommy replied. "But if this guy refuses, we're back to square one."  
  
"I know." Iain replied. He then turned to face the photographer. "Then why not teach us?" Iain asked.  
  
"What?" Ben asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice.  
  
"Join us, be our spirit photographer." Iain replied, for a few moments, Ben seemed to seriously consider the offer.  
  
"Why would you want me?" Ben asked.  
  
"Are you kidding!" Iain replied. "You've got the technical know-how! Photo development, equipment preference...and I've only taken about a quarter of the stuff here!" Iain replied. "I mean, sure, I can weild a camera myself, but I'm gonna be a Demonologist...and I need to use my hands for checmical work more then for steadying a camera, Tommy here says he can refit most current bikes, and has some knowledge of car engines and other bits of engineering...we take your photo skills, my chem skills and his engineering, we got ourselves the potential for something big!" Iain replied with a grin. Ben reguarded Iain for a few moments.  
  
"He's enthusiastic, isn't he?" He asked.  
  
"Most enthusiastic guy I've met in a while." Tommy replied with a shrug.  
  
"And you're really wanting to set up a team?" Ben asked with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Yeah." Tommy replied.  
  
"Where you guys thinking of setting up?" Ben asked, a slight grin tugging at the edges of his mouth.  
  
"Well, there's London..." Iain began.  
  
"Bristol." Tommy added.  
  
"My dad has a place in Staffordshire we could use..." Iain added thoughtfully.  
  
"We can work it out later." Tommy replied, for the first time he was able to let his irritance at the photographer drop and he openly grinned.  
  
"What were you thinking of calling this group?" Ben asked, leaning back in his desk chair.  
  
"Well...if we take up the place in Staffordshire, then SPRIG."  
  
"Sprig?" Ben asked.  
  
"Yeah, Staffordshire Paranormal Research and Investigation Group." Iain replied. When he was done, Ben started looking about quickly.  
  
"Something wrong?" Tommy asked.  
  
"Yeah...I left a bottle of beer around here...thought we could use it for a toast...or something." Ben replied.  
  
Chapter Seventeen  
  
"Stop." A voice commanded, Tommy paused, turning his head to the source of the new voice, near the fallen pedestal, Roger stood up with equal surprise, there was surprise written on Carlos' face as well. "That is enough." The voice added. Tommy released the kidnapper who fell to the floor in a heap, then with a groan, he pulled himself up. "You have proven yourself just." The man continued, walking into the light, for the first time Tommy, Carlos and Roger could see the face of the new arrival. The man appeared to be in his late 20s, his hair was long and he was given a friendly appearance by a beard he sported, his dress was unusual, it seemed old, almost medival. He wore a suit of chainmail underneath a set of fabric garments, he looked like a man prepared for war but without a suit of armour, the fabric on his chest sported a lion.  
  
"Who are you?" Tommy asked. He could see a few more people appearing from the gloom, an elderly looking man in purple robes, accompanied with the celtic-design staff he seemed to share a resemblence to Sir Ian McKellan as Gandalf. A few more less notable in appearance people were standing in the background watching.  
  
"I am the man you may know as Arthur, King of the Britons." The bearded man replied.  
  
"Funny...thought you'd speak 'ye-olde English'." Tommy replied honestly.  
  
"Even though we left the English isle many, many years ago, we are not unfamiliar with the changes that have happened since our time." The man, Arthur replied with an amused chuckle. "We have been keeping track of the changes that have affected our country men since we left for Avalon...I am surprised...and saddened from what I have seen...but there are some things which I have seen which still fill me with pride, hope. Your crusade, for example is one of them."  
  
"Crusade?" Roger asked in curiosity.  
  
"Yes, your crusade against evil, against those which would harm our fellow countrymen. However...we also have seen some of what is to come...what has, and will happen today will help prepare you for what will lie ahead...a cloud of darkness is on the horizon...and your crusade must be ready." Arthur continued. "The lad is also preparing himself...prooving himself."  
  
"Iain? Prooving himself for what?" Tommy asked.  
  
"Worthy of a gift that will be bestowed upon him...even your other friend, Thomas...the one who did not come, he is also preparing and prooving himself for a gift...these gifts will help your crusade."  
  
"Ben?"  
  
"Yes...you have proven yourself today, Thomas, you had the chance to gain the Grail, snatch it from under this man, Carlos' reach, but you didn't go for the tempting choice, you have a strong will and dedication, it will help you go far." Arthur turned to face Carlos. "There is a punishment befitting for you, you shall be returned to the English Isle, in time." With that said, the man in with the staff appraoched Carlos, raised and pointed the staff at Carlos, the end of the carved staff glowed white as the man waved his hand over it, and then Carlos vanished in a flash of light and a puff of smoke. "Thankyou, old friend." Arthur nodded towards who Tommy could only assume was Merlin. "You must go find your friend now...his lesson with Launcelot shall be over soon."  
  
"Lancelot?" Roger asked in surprise.  
  
"...I must assume history has corrupted a many thing in since my time." Arthur noted with some slight amusement. "Yes, as a punishment for his betrayal, Launcelot was banished to guard Excalibur for eternity, when a youth, destined to find and weild Excalibur does enter Avalon, then the youth must defeat Launcelot...Excalibur has waited a great age for the destined youth, and Excalibur does not choose unwisely, your friend will be near the entrance to the tunnels once you leave this castle." Arthur turned and started to walk away.  
  
"Arthur...err...Sir?" Tommy replied, Arthur turned to face the Ghostbuster, an expression of true curiosity on his face.  
  
"Yes?" Arthur asked.  
  
"We were always led to believe that...well, you, Lancelot, Merlin...were myths...now that we know you really exist...what else have we been told are myths and legends are actually real?" Arthur thought for a moment, as if choosing his words carefully.  
  
"There are more truths in myths and legend then you will believe...I am as sure you will encounter them during the crusade as I am sure our swords will cross again. We must go now, good luck Thomas, you will be needing it." With that, Arthur, Merlin and the few other people walked away into the shadow, vanishing from sight. One the stone floor Tommy spotted the artifact he picked it up and placed it in his pocket he hoped it would take them home.  
  
***  
  
Iain hit the ground and rolled, he was on his feet again in the moment and sprinting for the statue. Behind him, he heard the rustle of metal and Launcelot pulled himself and charged after him. Iain reached a hand forward, grabbed the handle of the sword, ducked into a roll and landed on his back, pointing the sword at the quickly advancing Launcelot, as soon as Launcelot reached Iain, he stopped, studying the scene.  
  
"Congratulations boy, you have passed the test." Launcelot replied.  
  
"Test?" Iain blinked. "What test?" He asked.  
  
"The test to prove your worthiness to weild Excalibur...you have shown that you will weild the blade with the skill of a fighter." Launcelot replied. "Now go, your friends will be leaving the castle soon."  
  
"My friends? How do you know about them?" Iain asked suspiciously.  
  
"There are more things I have seen then you shall ever face boy, now go before I change my mind." Launcelot growlled, pulling the broken pole out from between the two pieces of metal. Iain nodded, then dragging the sword with him he exited the chamber and made his way back in the direction of the hidden spiral staircase. After nearly fifteen minutes navigating his way through the passageways he spotted Tommy and Roger standing at the exit to the tunnel that he'd directed them to, in the distance, Iain could make out a sole castle, stood on a misty mound on the edge of a lake.  
  
"'Bout time, we were just about to leave." Tommy replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.  
  
"Success I take it?" Roger asked with an amused expression.  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Iain asked with slightly narrowed eyes.  
  
"Well..." Roger began, gesturing at the sword that Iain had been carrying. "I'm sure you wouldn't be dragging that thing around if you hadn't passed your test."  
  
"How'd you know about that?" Iain asked in surprise.  
  
"Iain..." Tommy began, clamping an arm across Iain's shoulder as they walked back down into the tunnels in the direction of where the portal had opened. "We'll tell you when we get back to HQ...there's no way you'd believe us if we told you straight away.  
  
"Hey...where's the kidnapper?" Iain asked, as if just remembering.  
  
"Err...well..." Roger began.  
  
"We'll explain later, Iain." Tommy finished.  
  
"Right..." Iain replied, wondering just what he'd missed.  
  
***  
  
Detective Giles watched as a yellow bolt with blue electricity shot from the end of the pistol and slammed into the demon's shoulder, it howled in pain at the sudden shock. Ben released several more shots before he ducked behind a pile of rubble, Detective Giles did the same.  
  
"Foolisssh mortal! I ssshall evicerate you for that!" It snarled.  
  
"I don't think so...I'm stopping you this time, you won't have the chance to harm anyone again." Ben replied as he checked the Proton Pistol's charge, it was down to 75%.  
  
"You didn't prove your sssuccess in trying to sssave your underssstudy." The demon spoke in a conspirative tone.  
  
"What?" Ben asked in surprise.  
  
"Yesss...I am aware of what goesss on in thessse tunnelsss...your underssstudy'sss death was an intresting event to watch.  
  
"BASTARD!" Ben bellowed, shooting more shots at the demon, a few missed as the demon dodged them, Ben then ducked behind the rubble again as the demon released a twisting beam of black and red energy, it missed, but only just. Ben checked the Proton Pistol's charge...it was down to 54%. Ben waited a few minutes to calm down again before trying to instigate a plan.  
  
"Well? What are you waiting for?" The demon asked impatiently. "I don't have all day! I have humansss to kill!"  
  
"Detective Giles...how good are you at shooting?" Ben asked in a near whisper.  
  
"I'm okay...like I said...I can beat most shooting stalls at a fair." Detective Giles asked.  
  
"Okay...I have an idea..."  
  
***  
  
"Right, understood?" Ben asked.  
  
"I still don't think this is a very good idea." Detective Giles replied.  
  
"I never said it was without risk." Ben agreed. "Okay..." He spoke, then dived out into the clearing as the Demon narrowed it's gaze at him.  
  
"Are you ready to die?" It asked.  
  
"Well..." Ben began. "Not really."  
  
"That isss unimportant." The demon replied, raising a taloned claw at Ben, a ball of black and red energy began to form in it's palm. "I promissse thisss much...it won't hurt...for too long." The edges of the thing's mouth twisted in a grin as it prepared for the attack.  
  
"NOW!" Ben shouted.  
  
"What?" The demon asked. Suddenly it was sent hurtling across the air as several Proton Bolts struck it on the head, however Detective Giles wasn't used to the kickback of the pistol, which while it wasn't as great as the standard Proton Gun, it was still quite forceful if unexpected, meant that a few shots went wide of the mark. But as soon as he became used to the kickback he continued to shoot the bolts into the thing's head. Ben ran forward, unclipped the Ghost Trap from his belt and held it up as he dropped the trigger.  
  
"Smile, you're on candid camera." Ben uttered, he then stamped a boot onto the trigger, opening the trap. The demon uttered an awful hiss as it was sucked into the minature Containment Unit, but the sound was cut off as the trap's doors closed over the entity, and it was sealed until it could be dumped in the full size Containment Unit at the GBUK HQ. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you, Andy." Ben replied gtimly as he rolled up the flex on the Ghost Trap, he then looked over at the policeman. "You ever consider a job in Ghostbusting?"  
  
"If it's things like that, I'll pass." Detective Giles replied, he then offered the Proton Pistol back, Ben took it and clipped it onto his belt. "I suppose it's back to your HQ then I take it?"  
  
"You'd be right...let's get going, the sooner we leave this place the better." Ben replied, he switched off his PKE Meter and clipped it onto his belt, he also checked the charge on the Proton Pistol, only 12% was left on the charge. With that, he turned and moved towards the exit to the catacomb, Detectove Giles following close behind with the flashlight.  
  
Chapter Eighteen  
  
"And make sure you lock this place up once we leave, got it?" Tommy asked a Security Guard.  
  
"Sure...doesn't that belong to the museum?" The Guard asked, gesturing at the sword.  
  
"No...it's with us." Tommy replied, he then turned and joined the other two Ghostbusters as they walked out of the Entrance Hall to the National History Museum.  
  
"If you're gonna drag that thing around Iain, you're gonna need a scabbard or something." Roger spoke.  
  
"I know, I've got it all worked out, I get a scabbard which I can sling over my shoulder." Iain replied, much to Tommy's bemusement.  
  
"You're really into swords aren't you?" He asked.  
  
"Hey, they're cool for so many reasons!" Iain replied as they walked across to the nearby car park.  
  
"You know...shouldn't we be worried about Ben? Neither Ben or Detective Giles were here when we got back from Avalon." Roger replied.  
  
"Well...seeing as I have the keys..." Iain held up the keys to the Ecto- UK. "And seeing as there's the Underground entrance over there...it's only a short ride on the Picadilly Line to Russell Square..." Iain explained as he unlocked the Ecto-UK, with the vehicle unlocked the Ghostbusters climbed in. Within minutes Iain started the ambulance's engine and pulled out of the car park.  
  
***  
  
Ben and Detective Giles climbed up the staircase from Russell Square Underground Station. As he walked, Ben carried the Ghost Trap ahead of him, not trusting it on his belt since the ride from Marble Arch. They turned the corner and started walking down the street towards Boyden Street, down the road Detective Giles could see a two-story Fire Station.  
  
"That's your building?" Detective Giles asked questionly.  
  
"Hey, apart from the fact it's a tradition in the business, it's got great coverage of London." Ben replied in defence of the old building. "Plus with the large basement for the ECU and the reinforced file storage converted into a library..."  
  
"Alright, alright!" Detective Giles replied. Eventually they arrived outside the darkened building and Ben had to set down the trap when he searched through his jumpsuit for a keychain. After a few moments he eventually found the elusive object, extracted it from his jumpsuit pocket and inserted into the lock set into the main customer entrance to the Firestation, once the door had been unlocked he pushed it open and stepped into the office. Detective Giles followed a few moments later and nearly bumped into a desk.  
  
"Watch your eyes." Ben warned, Detective Giles raised a hand to sheild his eyes and a moment later a bright flash went off, followed by several others as the suspended flourescents were illuminated.  
  
"Thanks." Detective Giles replied.  
  
"Right, I'm just going downstairs to dispose of this thing," Ben replied, holding up the trap by it's handle. "Should take a couple of minutes, then I'll answer any questions you might have before the others get back. Feel free to make yourself some coffee!" He shouted back.  
  
"Right." Detective Giles replied, he sat down in one of the desk chairs as he watched Ben walk into the back of the Firestation.  
  
***  
  
BEEP! Iain leant on the steering wheel, traffic heading to Parliament Square had snarled Central London to a small crawl, it would take another quarter of an hour to get to Russel Square. Iain glanced at his watch, it was nearly quarter past one in the morning.  
  
***  
  
The basement flared into life as a series of overhead lights were illuminated from the door into the room, Ben descended the metal staircase to the basement beneath Ghostbusters UK HQ. The room was small, and dark in the upper corners. Set into the back of the room was a matching breeze- block wall, set in the middle of the wall was a red, rectangular device, the Ecto-Containment Unit. Ben hopped off, skipping the last few steps of the staircase and walked over to a clip board hung on the wall next to the Containment Unit entry port, the top piece of paper was letter headed with the GBI logo, the familiar cartoonish ghost in a red prohibition symbol. Below the letterhead were the words: GHOST INCARCERATION REGISTRATION. Ben studied the chart.  
  
"Ghost classification...Class VII Metaspectre...'demon'..." He ticked the appropriate boxes and wrote in the appropriate answers on the form. "...PKE signal...between 451 and 452...General Appearance...Big...Nasty...Wore a cloak...soulless eyes...Powers...Demonic blast...ability to preduce destructive offspring...Danger level...5..." Ben rattled off in the small basement, finishing the entry. "Time of entry?" He studied his watch. "One thirty." He wrote the time down, he then tore the piece of paper off of the sheef of papers and dropped it in a tray marked OUT. He then walked over to the Ghost Trap, picked it up and moved over to the Containment Unit, the standard design used by GBI.  
  
***  
  
After crawling through the thick traffic, the Ecto-UK made a turn onto Boyden Street and made the final approach to GBUK HQ.  
  
***  
  
He grabbed the handle, twisted it from a horizontal to vertical position, and pulled. The entire plate came away from the box, sliding down and exposing smaller, slightly larger then the Ghost Trap box which had been hidden in the device's interior. "Insert the trap," he muttered, remembering the routine as he slid the trap into the interior box, the Containment Unit made a metallic scraping sound. "release," He pressed a button on the trap's casing, and pulled, the trap's cartridge was left in the Containment Unit's cartridge housing. "close, lock the system." He went on, closing the panel and snapping the handle back into position. "Set your entry grid," He pressed a red button, and a sound which resembled a bug zapper began to hum. "neutralize your field." He pressed a yellow button, and the Containment Unit uttered a hiss. "And..." He pressed down on a second handle, to the right of the opening panel, the Containment Unit made a metallic 'flushing' sound, a few moments later a sound like something metal, and heavy being dropped on concrete sounded, and a few moments after that, a empty trap cartridge slid out of an opening. A green button and the green industrail light lit up. "...the light is green, the trap is clean. The ghost is incarcerated here yada yada yada." He flipped the handle back up, tapped the Containment Unit and tossed the empty trap casing into a bin marked 'Recharge'. He moved over to the staircase and began to make his way up the staircase. He paused when he heard something like someone pounding on the opposite side of the concrete wall, but a thousand times louder. He turned and looked at the Containment from the staircase, he climbed back down and studied the wall, there weren't any cracks or holes.  
  
"Hmm." He thought from a moment, he then shrugged and turned away, when the sound of something cracking sounded in the air, he turned to the diagnostic readouts of the Containment Unit. He studied the graphs, everything seemed normal...except for the pressure on the laser grid, one of the differences between the 2003 varient and the 1984 model Containment Unit was a improvement of the laser grid system, eradicating the original flaw. The pressure guage wasn't just climbing into the red...it had actually cracked, the glass covering the face of the dial had snapped in two down the middle. "Marvellous." Ben muttered. He backed away as some of the other dials and readouts began to climb and shoot into the red. He stood standing as the basement as the room was flooded with red light, the green lights on one of the diagnostic banks were slowly winking out and were replaced with red, as Ben watched, a clear stream of ectoplasm began to seep out of the crack in the block. A moment later, and the Containment Unit's warning claxon began to sound, it was deafening in the small space and Ben winced at the noise. He ran over to the power board, as he raised a hand to the manual shut down the switch sparked and exploded, showering particles of plastic. With the manual shut down destroyed he then turned and ran as one of the blocks set into the barrier wall of the Containment Unit exploded.  
  
***  
  
Sipping his coffee, Detective Giles was still sat in the chair, watching as the now-familiar Ecto-UK approached from down the street. He hadn't even heard the quick sound of boots on floorboards until Ben barged into the office.  
  
"Get out!" Ben shouted.  
  
"What?" Detective Giles asked, surprised by the sudden entrance.  
  
"Now! The bloody thing's going to blow!" Ben shouted, pushing the surprised policeman out of the building, the jostling movements caused the policeman to drop the ceramic mug, and it shattered on the floor, spilling hot coffee as it went. As both Ghostbuster and Policeman stumbled out of the building the Ecto-UK approached as the first concussive blast went off, a minature earthquake shook the ground beneath the Firestation which shook windows and set off car alarms.  
  
"Ben?" It was Tommy. "What's going on?" He asked as lights began to dance inside the Firestation.  
  
"It's the thing! The demon...we caught it...but the Containment Unit...the thing's blowing up!" As if to emphasise the point, another concussive blast shuddered the ground beneath the Fire Station, whatever happened, it caused the power in the immediate area to flicker out, leaving the area in a surreal twilight glow from the lights which burned in buildings and streets further away from the black out radius.  
  
"Get behind that car." Tommy instructed, Ben and Detective Giles nodded, ducking behind Ben's old Mini Cooper, the rest of the Ghostbusters ducked behind the Ecto-UK, just in time to avoid being hit by the first of the debris, a large fireball erupted in the engine bay as the Containment Unit finally exploded, shattering the roof of the basement. As the fireball expanded it crashed into the sliding doors, they shattered upon impact, showering wood and plastic upon the sheltering paranormal investigators, representative of the Metropolitan Police and nearby bystanders. A moment later a collossal pillar of crimson energy shot into the air as the roof of the engine bay crumbled and collapsed. As the energy twirled and spiralled, forms shot out from under the Fire Station, one final explosive shot sent the vehicles shaking as a large portion of the pavement in front of the structure cumbled, a wrought iron lamppost topled over, it's glass lantern shattering as it struck the broken pavement. As the energy and shadows continued to move, the two-story structure of the crew barracks partially collapsed, the roof of the second story fell in, and the wall lining the rear of the building partially collapsed. The rear excercise tower, now exposed as the engine bay fell apart, began to shake and soon it's large mass collapsed into what was now Ground Zero. As they watched, a particularily dark and shadowy creature shot out of the ruins like a bat out of hell, it swirled in the air as it took shape. When it finally took shape, the four Ghostbusters and policeman froze, it was the demon, the thing that they'd been hunting and the thing which had been caught. It watched them, then it's eyes blazed in fury as it spotted it's captors.  
  
"Thiss day isss not over! Vengeance will be mine!" The thing scowled. The thing then raised a hand and began to form a ball of black and red energy.  
  
"No you don't!" Ben shouted, grabbing the Proton Pistol, at the exact second that demon had fired, Ben had released the last bolt from the gun, the two differing power signatures collided, merged and exploded, sending the gathered humans sprawling. The demon hissed as Ben muttered a startled cry of pain, then in it's fury, the thing shot off into the night, flames raged in the ravaged Fire Station, in the distance, muted sirens could be heard as the witnesses picked themselves up. Detective Giles helped Ben up as the other three Ghostbusters came over.  
  
"You two all right?" Iain asked, worry evident on his face.  
  
"Nothing some aspirine and a good lie down can't fix." Detective Giles muttered. "You know, I'm going have a hell of a time explaining all this...the demon...the explosion...you're not making my job easy."  
  
"Well...we hadn't exactly planned on our own series of Master Blasters..." Roger retorted. They turned and watched as the last of the captured ghosts escaped into the night.  
  
Epilogue  
  
A little after 8:30 Eastern Standard Time, one of the computers set up in a lab somewhere on the Eastern coast of North America suddenly went off the chart, it started a chain reaction, a printer shooting out readings and their analysis, a alarm which alerted a nerby occupant of the lab, he in turn studied the readouts, then the computer and knew all too clear what had happened. Even now, the computer screen was clearing again, in the green haze's place was a city, it's tangled lines of roadways much different from the city in which the lab was established, and somewhere in the centre of the tangled city was the epicentre of the PKE blast and shockwave, the occupant studied a small typed title at the top of the screen, it read: LONDON, ENGLAND. The occupant sighed and removed his glasses as he massaged his forehead, he remembered his contact with the team who had established the Containment Unit which had ruptured at that spot...a Containment Unit rupture was surely the death knell for any franchise... He placed the glasses back on his nose and pondered, behind him a door opened and a small child entered the room, the boy's hair was a rich red, but styled in a similar cut to the occupant of the lab. The child also bore a pair of emerald eyes, which would assuredly prove popular in his adult years.  
  
"Pop..." The child began. "Something wrong?" The child asked.  
  
"Yes...Johnathan..." The child made a bit of a face at the use of his full first name. "I believe GBI will have some papers to attend to soon...I believe we have just lost one of our franchises." The occupant replied.  
  
The End  
  
* Electro Magnetic Field ** Psycho Kinetic Energy ***Please see 'GBUK: Going into Business' for more details. 


End file.
